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THE  LIBRARIES 


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TTHE  LIFE 


OF 


FATHER  HECKER 


BY 


Rev.  Walter  Elliott. 


Nf.w  York  : 
THF.   COLUMBUS    PRESS. 

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mil  obstat : 

Augustinus  F.  Hewit, 

Censor  Deputatus. 


Umprtmatur : 

M.    A.    CORRIGAN, 

Archiepi scopus  Neo-Ebor. 


Copyright.     Vssy  Rr.v.  A.  F.  Hewit.     1891, 


UN. 

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AUTHOR'S   PREFACE. 


THE  reader  must  indulge  me  with  what  I  cannot  help  saying, 
that  I  have  felt  the  joy  of  a  son  in  telling  the  achieve- 
ments and  chronicling  the  virtues  of  Father  Hecker.  I  loved 
him  with  the  sacred  fire  of  holy  kinship,  and  love  him  still — 
only  the  more  that  lapse  of  time  has  deepened  by  experience, 
inner  and  outer,  the  sense  of  truth  and  of  purity  he  ever  com- 
municated to  me  in  life,  and  courage  and  fidelity  to  conscience. 
I  feel  it  to  be  honor  enough  and  joy  enough  for  a  life-time 
that  I  am  his  first  biographer,  though  but  a  late  born  child  and 
of  merit  entirely  insignificant.  The  literary  work  is,  indeed,  but 
of  home-made  quality,  yet  it  serves  to  hold  together  what  is  the 
heaven-made  wisdom  of  a  great  teacher  of  men.  It  will  be 
found  that  Father  Hecker  has  three  words  in  this  book  to  my 
one,  though  all  my  words  I  tried  to  make  his.  His  journals, 
letters,  and  recorded  sayings  are  the  edifice  into  which  I  intro- 
duce the  reader,  and  my  words  are  the  hinges  and  latchets  of 
its  doors.  I  am  glad  of  this,  for  it  pleases  me  to  dedicate  my 
good  will  and  my  poor  work  to  swinging  open  the  doors  of 
that  new  House  of  God  that  Isaac  Hecker  was  to  me,  and  that 
I  trust  he  will  be  to  many. 

WALTER  ELLIOTT. 


iii.-iv. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.— Childhood.  .....        i 

II. — Youth.    .......  12 

III. — The  Turning-point.  .  .  .  .23 

IV. — Led  by  the  Spirit.      ....  36 

V. — At  Brook  Farm.    .  .  .  .  .46 

VI. — Inner  Life  while  at  Brook  Farm.  .  57 

VII. — Struggles.   .  .  .  .  .  .67 

VIII. — Fruitlands.  ....  76 

IX. — Self-questionings.  .  .  .  -95 

X. — At  Home  Again.  ...  .  .101 

XL — Studying  and  Waiting.  .  .  .    113 

XII. — The  Mystic  and  the  Philosopher.  .  119 

XIII. — His  Search  among  the  Sects.  .  .130 

XIV. — His  Life  at  Concord.  .  .  .  139 

XV. — At  the  Door  of  the  Church.  .  .     148 

XVI. — At  the  Door  of  the  Church — (Continued).        157 

XVII. — Across  the  Threshold.  .  .  .166 

XVIII. — New  Influences.         ....         177 

XIX. — Yearnings  after  Contemplation.        .  .183 

XX. — From  New  York  to  St.  Trond.      .  .  194 

XXL — Brother  Hecker.  ....    202 

XXII. — How    Brother    Hecker   made   his    Studies 

and   was  Ordained  Priest.  .  .         213 

XXIII. — A  Redemptorist  Missionary.     .  .  .    230 

XXIV. — Separation  from  the  Redemptorists.       .  251 

XXV. — Beginnings  of  the  Paulist  Community.        .    281 


vi  Contents. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXVI. — Father  Hecker's  Idea  of  a  Religious  Com- 
munity.           .....          290 

XXVII. — Father  Hecker's  Spiritual  Doctrine.  .    302 

XXVIII. — The  Paulist  Parish  and  Missions.  .          326 

XXIX. — Father  Hecker's  Lectures.      .           .  .    332 

XXX. — The  Apostolate  of  the  Press.       .  .          348 

XXXI. — The  Vatican  Council.     .           .           .  .361 

XXXII. — The  Long  Illness.      .           .           .  .371 

XXXIII. — "The  Exposition  of  the  Church."     .  .    392 

XXXIV. — In  the  Shadow  of  Death.    .           .  .         402 

XXXV. — Conclusion.             .           .           .           .  .412 


Appendix. 


^»*e^ 


INTRODUCTION. 


By  Most  Rev.  John  Ireland,  D.D., 
Archbishop  of  St.  Paul. 


IFE  is  action,  and  so  long  as  there  is  action  there  is  life.  That 
■"-'  life  is  worth  living  whose  action  puts  forth  noble  aspirations 
and  good  deeds.  The  man's  influence  for  truth  and  virtue  persever- 
ing in  activity,  his  life  has  not  ceased,  though  earth  has  clasped 
his  body  in  its  embrace.  It  is  well  that  it  is  so.  The  years 
of  usefulness  between  the  cradle  and  the  grave  are  few.  The 
shortness  of  a  life  restricted  to  them  is  sufficient  to  discourage 
many  from  making  strong  efforts  toward  impressing  the  workings 
of  their  souls  upon  their  fellows.  The  number  to  whose  minds 
we  have  immediate  access  is  small,  and  they  do  not  remain. 
Is  the  good  we  might  do  worth  the  labor  ?  We  cannot  at  times 
refuse  a  hearing  to  the  question.  Fortunately,  it  is  easily  made 
clear  to  us  that  the  area  over  which  influence  travels  is  vastly 
more  extensive  than  at  first  sight  appears.  The  eye  will  not 
always  discern  the  undulations  of  its  spreading  waves  ;  but  on- 
ward it  goes,  from  one  soul  to  another,  far  beyond  our  immediate 
ranks,  and  as  each  soul  touched  by  it  becomes  a  new  motive 
power,  it  rolls  forward,  often  with  energy  a  hundred  times 
intensified,  long  after  the  shadows  of  death  have  settled  around 
its  point  of  departure. 

Isaac  Thomas  Hecker  lives  to-day,  and  with  added  years  he 
will  live  more  fully  than  he  does  to-day.  His  influence  for  good 
remains,  and  with  a  better  understanding  of  his  plans  and  ideals, 
which  is  sure  to  come,  his  influence  will  widen  and  deepen 
among  laymen  and  priests  of  the  Church  in  America.  The 
writing  of  his  biography  is  a  tribute  to  his  memory  which  the 
love  and  esteem  of  his  spiritual  children  could  not  refuse  ;  it  is, 
also,    a    most    important   service    to   generations  present   and    un- 


viii  Introduction. 


born,  in  whose  deeds  will  be  seen  the  fruits  of  inspirations 
gathered  from  it.  We  are  thankful  that  this  biography  has  been 
written  by  one  who  from  closest  converse  and  most  intimate 
friendship  knew  Father  Hecker  so  thoroughly.  He  has  given  us 
in  his  book  what  we  need  to  know  of  Father  Hecker.  We  care 
very  little,  except  so  far  as  details  may  accentuate  the  great 
lines  of  a  life  and  make  them  sensible  to  our  obtuse  touch, 
where  or  when  a  man  was  born,  what  places  he  happened  to 
visit,  what  houses  he  built,  or  in  what  circumstances  of  malady 
or  in  what  surroundings  he  died.  These  things  can  be  said  of 
the  ten  thousand.  We  want  to  know  the  thoughts  and  the 
resolves  of  the  soul  which  made  him  a  marked  man  above  his 
fellows  and  which  begot  strong  influences  for  good  and  great 
works,  and  if  none  such  can  be  unfolded  then  drop  the  man 
out  of  sight,  with  a  "  Requiescant  in  pace  "  engraven  upon  his 
tombstone.  Few  deserve  a  biography,  and  to  the  undeserving 
none  should  be  given. 

If  it  be  permitted  to  speak  of  self,  I  might  say  that  to 
Father  Hecker  I  am  indebted  for  most  salutary  impressions  which, 
I  sorrowfully  confess,  have  not  had  in  me  their  due  effect  ;  the 
remembrance  of  them,  however,  is  a  proof  to  me  of  the  useful- 
ness of  his  life,  and  its  power  for  good  in  others.  I  am  glad  to 
have  the  opportunity  to  profess  publicly  my  gratitude  to  him. 
He  was  in  the  prime  of  life  and  work  when  I  was  for  the  first 
time  brought  to  observe  him.  I  was  quite  young  in  the  ministry, 
and  very  naturally  I  was  casting  my  eye  around  in  search  of 
ideal  men,  whose  footsteps  were  treading  the  path  I  could  feel  I, 
too,  ought  to  travel.  I  never  afterwards  wholly  lost  sight  of 
Father  Hecker,  watching  him  as  well  as  I  could  from  a  distance 
of  two  thousand  miles.  I  am  not  to-day  without  some  experience 
of  men  and  things,  won  from  years  and  toils,  and  I  do  not  alter 
one  tittle  my  estimate  of  him,  except  to  make  it  higher.  To  the 
priests  of  the  future  I  recommend  a  serious  study  of  Father 
Hecker's  life.  To  them  I  would  have  his  biography  dedicated. 
Older  men,  like  myself,  are  fixed  in  their  ways,  and  they  will  not 
receive  from  it  so  much  benefit. 


Introduction.  ix 


Father  Hecker  was  the  typical  American  priest  ;  his  were  the 
gifts  of  mind  and  heart  that  go  to  do  great  work  for  God  and 
for  souls  in  America  at  the  present  time.  Those  qualities,  assur- 
edly, were  not  lacking  in  him  which  are  the  necessary  elements 
of  character  of  the  good  priest  and  the  great  man  in  any  time 
and  place.  Those  are  the  subsoil  of  priestly  culture,  and  with 
the  absence  of  them  no  one  will  succeed  in  America  any  more 
than  elsewhere.  But  suffice  they  do  not.  There  must  be  added, 
over  and  above,  the  practical  intelligence  and  the  pliability  of  will 
to  understand  one's  surroundings,  the  ground  upon  which  he  is 
to  deploy  his  forces,  and  to  adapt  himself  to  circumstances  and 
opportunities  as  Providence  appoints.  I  do  not  expect  that  my 
words,  as  I  am  here  writing,  will  receive  universal  approval,  and 
I  am  not  at  all  sure  that  their  expression  would  have  been 
countenanced  by  the  priest  whose  memory  brings  them  to  my 
lips.  I  write  as  I  think,  and  the  responsibility  must  be  all  my 
own.  It  is  as  clear  to  me  as  noon-day  light  that  countries  and 
peoples  have  each  their  peculiar  needs  and  aspirations  as  they 
have  their  peculiar  environments,  and  that,  if  we  would  enter 
into  souls  and  control  them,  we  must  deal  with  them  according  to 
their  conditions.  The  ideal  line  of  conduct  for  the  priest  in 
Assyria  will  be  out  of  all  measure  in  Mexico  or  Minnesota,  and 
I  doubt  not  that  one  doing  fairly  well  in  Minnesota  would  by 
similar  methods  set  things  sadly  astray  in  Leinster  or  Bavaria. 
The  Saviour  prescribed  timeliness  in  pastoral  caring.  The  master 
of  a  house,  He  said,  "  bringeth  forth  out  of  his  treasury  new 
things  and  old,"  as  there  is  demand  for  one  kind  or  the  other. 
The  apostles  of  nations,  from  Paul  before  the  Areopagus  to 
Patrick  upon  the  summit  of  Tara,  followed  no  different  principle. 

The  circumstances  of  Catholics  have  been  peculiar  in  the 
United  States,  and  we  have  unavoidably  suffered  on  this  account. 
Catholics  in  largest  numbers  were  Europeans,  and  so  were  their 
priests,  many  of  whom — by  no  means  all — remained  in  heart  and 
mind  and  mode  of  action  as  alien  to  America  as  if  they  had 
never  been  removed  from  the  Shannon,  the  Loire,  or  the  Rhine. 
No  one  need  remind  me  that  immigration  has  brought  us  inesti- 


Introduction. 


mable  blessings,  or  that  without  it  the  Church  in  America  would 
be  of  small  stature.  The  remembrance  of  a  precious  fact  is  not 
put  aside,  if  I  recall  an  accidental  evil  attaching  to  it.  Priests 
.foreign  in  disposition  and  work  were  not  fitted  to  make  favor- 
able impressions  upon  the  non-Catholic  American  population, 
and  the  American-born  children  of  Catholic  immigrants  were 
likely  to  escape  their  action.  And,  lest  I  be  misunderstood,  I 
assert  all  this  is  as  true  of  priests  coming  from  Ireland  as  from 
any  other  foreign  country.  Even  priests  of  American  ancestry, 
ministering  to  immigrants,  not  unfrequently  fell  into  the  lines  of 
those  around  them,  and  did  but  little  to  make  the  Church  in 
America  throb  with  American  life.  Not  so  Isaac  Thomas 
Hecker.  Whether  consciously  or  unconsciously  I  do  not  know, 
and  it  matters  not,  he  looked  on  America  as  the  fairest  con- 
quest for  divine  truth,  and  he  girded  himself  with  arms  shaped 
and  tempered  to  the  American  pattern.  I  think  that  it  may  be 
said  that  the  American  current,  so  plain  for  the  last  quarter  of  a 
century  in  the  flow  of  Catholic  affairs,  is,  largely  at  least,  to  be 
traced  back  to  Father  Hecker  and  his  early  co-workers.  It  used 
to  be  said  of  them  in  reproach  that  they  were  the  "  Yankee  '! 
Catholic  Church  ;    the  reproach  was  their  praise. 

Father  Hecker  understood  and  loved  the  country  and  its 
institutions.  He  saw  nothing  in  them  to  be  deprecated  or 
changed  ;  he  had  no  longing  for  the  flesh-pots  and  bread-stuffs 
of  empires  and  monarchies.  His  favorite  topic  in  book  and 
lecture  was,  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  requires, 
as  its  necessary  basis,  the  truths  of  Catholic  teaching  regarding 
man's  natural  state,  as  opposed  to  the  errors  of  Luther  and  Cal- 
vin. The  republic,  he  taught,  presupposes  the  Church's  doc- 
trine, and  the  Church  ought  to  love  a  polity  which  is  the 
offspring  of  her  own  spirit.  He  understood  and  loved  the  people 
of  America.  He  recognized  in  them  splendid  natural  qualities. 
Was  he  not  right  ?  Not  minimizing  in  the  least  the  dreadful 
evil  of  the  absence  of  the  supernatural,  I  am  not  afraid  to  give 
as  my  belief  that  there  is  among  Americans  as  high  an  appre- 
ciation and  as  lively  a  realization  of  natural  truth   and    goodness 


Introduction.  xi 


as  has  been  seen  in    any   people,  and    it    seems    as    if  Almighty 
God,  intending  a  great  age  and  a    great  people,  has  put  here  in 
America    a    singular    development    of    nature's  powers  and    gifts, 
both  in  man  and  out  of  man — with  the  further   will,   I    have   the 
faith,  of  crowning  all  with  the  glory  of  the  supernatural.     Father 
Hecker  perceived  this,   and  his  mission  was  to  hold  in  his  hands 
the  natural,  which  Americans  extolled  and  cherished  and    trusted 
in,    and    by    properly    directing    its    legitimate     tendencies    and 
rrrowth    to  lead  it  to  the    term    of    its    own    instincts  and  aspira- 
tions — Catholic    truth    and    Catholic    grace.     Protestantism    is    no 
longer  more  than  a  name,  a  memory.     The  American  has  fallen 
back    upon    himself,    scorning    the    negations    and    the    doctrinal 
cruelties  of  Protestantism  as  utterly  contrary  to  himself,  as  utterly 
unnatural ;   and  now  comes  the  opportunity  of  the  Catholic  Church 
to  show  that  she  is  from  the  God  who  created  nature,  by  open- 
ing before  this  people  her  treasures,  amid  which  the  soul    revels 
in  rational    liberty  and    intelligence,  and    enjoys    the    gratification 
of  its  best  and  purest  moral  instincts.     These  convictions  are  the 
keynote    of   Father  Hecker's    controversial    discourses    and    writ- 
ings, notably  of  two  books,  Aspirations  of  Nature  and   Questions 
of  the  Soul.     He  assumed  that  the  American  people  are  naturally 
Catholic,  and  he  labored  with  this    proposition    constantly  before 
his  mind.      It  is  the  assumption    upon    which  all  must  labor  who 
sincerely  desire  to  make  America  Catholic. 

He  laid  stress  on  the  natural  and  social  virtues.  The  Amer- 
ican people  hold  these  in  highest  esteem.  They  are  the  virtues 
that  are  most  apparent,  and  are  seemingly  the  most  needed  for 
the  building  up  and  the  preservation  of  an  earthly  commonwealth. 
Truthfulness,  honesty  in  business  dealings,  loyalty  to  law  and 
social  order,  temperance,  respect  for  the  rights  of  others,  and 
the  like  virtues  are  prescribed  by  reason  before  the  voice  of 
revelation  is  heard,  and  the  absence  of  specifically  supernatural 
virtues  has  led  the  non-Catholic  to  place  paramount  importance 
upon  them.  It  will  be  a  difficult  task  to  persuade  the  American 
that  a  church  which  will  not  enforce  those  primary  virtues  can 
enforce  others  which  she  herself  declares  to  be  higher  and   more 


xii  Introduction. 


arduous,  and  as  he  has  implicit  confidence  in  the  destiny  of  his 
country  to  produce  a  high  order  of  social  existence,  his  first  test 
of  a  religion  will  be  its  powers  in  this  direction.  This  is  ac- 
cording to  Catholic  teaching.  Christ  came  not  to  destroy,  but 
to  perfect  what  was  in  man,  and  the  graces  and  truths  of  reve- 
lation lead  most  securely  to  the  elevation  of  the  life  that  is,  no 
less  than  to  the  gaining  of  the  life  to  come.  It  is  a  fact,  how- 
ever, that  in  other  times  and  other  countries  the  Church  has 
been  impeded  in  her  social  work,  and  certain  things  or  customs 
of  those  times  and  countries,  transplanted  upon  American  soil 
and  allowed  to  grow  here  under  a  Catholic  name,  will  do  her 
no  honor  among  Americans.  The  human  mind,  among  the  best 
of  us,  inclines  to  narrow  limitations,  and  certain  Catholics,  aware 
of  the  comparatively  greater  importance  of  the  supernatural, 
partially  overlook  the  natural. 

Then,  too,  casuists  have  incidentally  done  us  harm.  They 
will  quote  as  our  rule  of  social  conduct  in  America  what  may 
have  been  tolerated  in  France  or  Germany  during  the  seven- 
teenth century,  and  their  hair-splitting  distinctions  in  the  realm 
of  abstract  right  and  wrong  are  taken  by  some  of  us  as  prac- 
tical decisions,  without  due  reference  to  local  circumstances.  The 
American  people  pay  slight  attention  to  the  abstract ;  they  look 
only  to  the  concrete  in  morals,  arid  we  must  keep  account  of 
their  manner  of  judging  things.  The  Church  is  nowadays  called 
upon  to  emphasize  her  power  in  the  natural  order.  God  forbid 
that  I  entertain,  as  some  may  be  tempted  to  suspect  me  of 
doing,  the  slightest  notion  that  vigilance  may  be  turned  off  one 
single  moment  from  the  guard  of  the  supernatural.  For  the 
sake  of  the  supernatural  I  speak.  And  natural  virtues,  prac- 
tised in  the  proper  frame  of  mind  and  heart,  become  super- 
natural. Each  century  calls  for  its  type  of  Christian  perfection. 
At  one  time  it  was  martyrdom ;  at  another  it  was  the  humility 
of  the  cloister.  To-day  we  need  the  Christian  gentleman  and 
the  Christian  citizen.  An  honest  ballot  and  social  decorum 
among  Catholics  will  do  more  for  God's  glory  and  the  salvation 
of  souls  than  midnight  flagellations   or  Compostellan  pilgrimages. 


Introduction.  xiii 


On  a  line  with  his  principles,  as  I  have  so  far  delineated  them, 
Father  Hecker  believed  that  if  he  would  succeed  in  his  work  for 
souls,  he  should  use  in  it  all  the  natural  energy  that  God  had 
given  him,  and  he  acted  up  to  his  belief.  I  once  heard  a  good 
old  priest,  who  said  his  beads  well  and  made  a  desert  around  bis 
pulpit  by  miserable  preaching,  criticise  Father  Hecker,  who,  he 
imagined,  put  too  much  reliance  in  man,  and  not  enough  in  God. 
Father  Hecker's  piety,  his  assiduity  in  prayer,  his  personal  habits 
of  self-denial,  repel  the  aspersion  that  he  failed  in  reliance  upon 
God.  But  my  old  priest — and  he  has  in  the  church  to-day,  both 
in  America  and  Europe,  tens  of  thousands  of  counterparts — was 
more  than  half  willing  to  see  in  all  outputtings  of  human  energy 
a  lack  of  confidence  in  God.  We  sometimes  rely  far  more  upon 
God  than  God  desires  us  to  do,  and  there  are  occasions  when  a 
novena  is  the  refuge  of  laziness  or  cowardice.  God  has  endowed 
us  with  natural  talents,  and  not  one  of  them  shall  be,  with  His 
permission,  enshrouded  in  a  napkin.  He  will  not  work  a  miracle, 
or  supply  grace,  to  make  up  for  our  deficiencies.  We  must  work 
as  if  all  depended  on  us,  and  pray  as  if  all  depended  on 
God. 

God  never  proposed  to  do  by  His  direct  action  all  that  might 
be  done  in  and  through  the  Church.  He  invites  human  co-opera- 
tion, and  abandons  to  it  a  wide  field.  The  ages  of  most  active 
human  industry  in  religious  enterprises  were  the  ages  of  most 
remarkable  spiritual  conquests.  The  tendency  to  overlook  this 
fact  shows  itself  among  us.  Newman  writes  that  where  the  sun 
shines  bright  in  the  warm  climate  of  the  south,  the  natives  of 
the  place  know  little  of  safeguards  against  cold  and  wet.  They 
have  their  cold  days,  but  only  now  and  then,  and  they  do  not 
deem  it  worth  their  while  to  provide  against  them :  the  science 
of  calefaction  is  reserved  for  the  north.  And  so,  Protestants,  de- 
pending on  human  means  solely,  are  led  to  make  the  most  of 
them  ;  their  sole  resource  is  to  use  what  they  have ;  they  are 
the  anxious  cultivators  of  a  rugged  soil.  Catholics,  on  the  con- 
trary, feel  that  God  will  protect  the  Church,  and,  as  Newman 
adds,   "we  sometimes  forget  that  we    shall  please  Him  best,  and 


xiv  Introduction. 


get  most  from  Him,  when,  according  to  the  fable,  we  put  our 
shoulder  to  the  wheel,  when  we  use  what  we  have  by  nature  to 
the  utmost,  at  the  same  time  that  we  look  out  for  what  is  beyond 
nature  in  the  confidence  of  faith  and  hope."  Lately  a  witty 
French  writer  pictures  to  us  the  pious  friends  of  the  leading 
Catholic  layman  of  France,  De  Mun,  kneeling  in  spiritual  retreat 
when  their  presence  is  required  in  front  of  the  enemy.  The 
Catholic  of  the  nineteenth  century  all  over  the  world  is  too  quiet, 
too  easily  resigned  to  "  the  will  of  God,"  attributing  to  God  the 
effects  of  his  own  timidity  and  indolence.  Father  Hecker  rolled 
up  his  sleeves  and  "pitched  in"  with  desperate  resolve.  He 
fought  as  for  very  life.  Meet  him  anywhere  or  at  any  time,  he 
was  at  work  or  he  was  planning  to  work.  He  was  ever  looking 
around  to  see  what  might  be  done.  He  did  with  a  rush  the 
hard  labor  of  a  missionary  and  of  a  pastor,  and  he  went  beyond 
it  into  untrodden  pathways.  He  hated  routine.  He  minded  not 
what  others  had  been  doing,  seeking  only  what  he  himself  might 
do.  His  efforts  for  the  diffusion  of  Catholic  literature,  The  Cath- 
olic WORLD,  his  several  books,  the  Catholic  tracts,  tell  his  zeal 
and  energy.  A  Catholic  daily  paper  was  a  favorite  design  to 
which  he  gave  no  small  measure  of  time  and  labor.  He  anti- 
cipated by  many  years  the  battlings  of  our  temperance  apostles. 
The  Paulist  pulpit  opened  death-dealing  batteries  upon  the  saloon 
when  the  saloon-keeper  was  the  hero  in  state  and  church.  The 
Catholic  University  of  America  found  in  him  one  of  its  warmest 
advocates.  His  zeal  was  as  broad  as  St.  Paul's,  and  whoever  did 
good  was  his  friend  and  received  his  support.  The  walls  of  his 
parish,  or  his  order,  did  not  circumscribe  for  him  God's  Church. 
His  choice  of  a  patron  saint — St.  Paul — reveals  the  fire  burning 
within  his  soul.  He  would  not,  he  could  not  be  idle.  On  his 
sick-bed,  where  he  lay  the  greater  part  of  his  latter  years,  he  was 
not  inactive.  He  wrote  valuable  articles  and  books,  and  when 
unable  to  write,  he  dictated. 

He  was  enthusiastic  in  his  work,  as  all  are  who  put  their 
whole  soul  into  what  they  are  doing.  Such  people  have  no  time 
to  count  the  dark  linings  of  the  silvery  clouds  ;  they  realize  that 


Introduction.  xv 


God  and  man  together  do  not  fail.  Enthusiasm  begets  enthu- 
siasm. It  fits  a  man  to  be  a  leader  ;  it  secures  a  following.  A 
bishop  who  was  present  at  the  Second  Plenary  Council  of  Balti- 
more has  told  me  that  when  Father  Hecker  appeared  before  the 
assembled  prelates  and  theologians  in  advocacy  of  Catholic  litera- 
ture as  a  missionary  force,  the  picture  was  inspiring,  and  that 
the  hearers,  receiving  a  Pentecostal  fire  within  their  bosoms,  felt 
as  if  America  were  to  be  at  once  converted.  So  would  it  have 
been  if  there  had  been  in  America  a  sufficient  number  of 
Heckers.  He  had  his  critics.  Who  ever  tries  to  do  something 
outside  routine  lines  against  whom  hands  are  not  raised  and 
whose  motives  and  acts  are  not  misconstrued  ?  A  venerable 
clergyman  one  day  thought  he  had  scored  a  great  point  against 
Father  Hecker  by  jocosely  suggesting  to  him  as  the  motto  of  his 
new  order  the  word  "  Paulatim."  The  same  one,  no  doubt, 
would  have  made  a  like  suggestion  to  the  Apostle  of  the  Gen- 
tiles. Advocates  of  "  Paulatim  "  methods  have  too  often  left  the 
wheels  of  Christ's  chariot  fast  in  the  mire.  We  rejoice,  for  its 
sake,  that  enthusiasts  sometimes  appear  on  the  scene.  The  mis- 
sions of  the  early  Paulists,  into  which  went  Father  Hecker's 
entire  heart,  aroused  the  country.  To-day,  after  a  lapse  of  thirty 
or  thirty-five  years,  they  are  remembered  as  events  wherever  they 
were  preached. 

His  was  the  profound  conviction  that,  in  the  present  age  at 
any  rate,  the  order  of  the  day  should  be  individual  action — every 
man  doing  his  full  duty,  and  waiting  for  no  one  else  to  prompt 
him.  This,  I  take  it,  was  largely  the  meaning  of  Father  Hecker's 
oft-repeated  teaching  on  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  souls. 
There  have  been  epochs  in  history  where  the  Church,  sacrificing 
her  outposts  and  the  ranks  of  her  skirmishers  to  the  preservation 
of  her  central  and  vital  fortresses,  put  the  brakes,  through  neces- 
sity, from  the  nature  of  the  warfare  waged  against  her,  upon 
individual  activity,  and  moved  her  soldiers  in  serried  masses  ;  and 
then  it  was  the  part  and  the  glory  of  each  one  to  move  with  the 
column.  The  need  of  repression  has  passed  away.  The  authority 
of  the  Church  and    of    her  Supreme  Head  is  beyond    danger   of 


xvi  Introduction. 


being  denied  or  obscured,  and  each  Christian  soldier  may  take  to 
the  field,  obeying  the  breathings  of  the  Spirit  of  truth  and  piety 
within  him,  feeling  that  what  he  may  do  he  should  do.  There  is 
work  for  individual  priests,  and  for  individual  laymen,  and  so  soon 
as  it  is  discovered  let  it  be  done.  The  responsibility  is  upon 
each  one  ;  the  indifference  of  others  is  no  excuse.  Said  Father 
Hecker  one  day  to  a  friend  :  "  There  is  too  much  waiting  upon 
the  action  of  others.  The  layman  waits  for  the  priest,  the  priest 
for  the  bishop,  and  the  bishop  for  the  pope,  while  the  Holy  Ghost 
sends  down  to  all  the  reproof  that  He  is  prompting  each  one,  and 
no  one  moves  for  Him."  Father  Hecker  was  original  in  his  ideas, 
as  well  as  in  his  methods  ;  there  was  no  routine  in  him,  mental 
or  practical. 

I  cannot  but  allude,  whether  I  understand  or  not  the  true 
intent  of  it,  to  what  appears  to  have  been  a  leading  fact  in  his 
life  :  his  leaving  an  old-established  religious  community  for  the 
purpose  of  instituting  that  of  the  Paulists.  I  will  speak  so  far 
of  this  as  I  have  formed  an  estimate  of  it.  To  me,  this  fact  seems 
to  have  been  a  Providential  circumstance  in  keeping  with  all  else 
in  his  life.  I  myself  have  at  this  moment  such  thoughts  as  I 
imagine  must  have  been  running  through  his  mind  during  that 
memorable  sojourn  in  Rome,  which  resulted  in  freeing  him  from 
his  old  allegiance.  The  work  of  evangelizing  America  demands 
new  methods.  It  is  time  to  draw  forth  from  our  treasury  the 
"  new  things  "  of  the  Gospel  ;  we  have  been  long  enough  offer- 
ing "old  things."  Those  new  methods  call  for  newly-equipped 
men.  The  parochial  clergy  will  readily  confess  that  they  cannot 
of  themselves  do  all  that  God  now  demands  from  His  Church  in 
this  country.  They  are  too  heavily  burdened  with  the  ordinary 
duties  of  the  ministry  :  instructing  those  already  within  the  fold, 
administering  the  sacraments,  building  temples,  schools,  and  asy- 
lums— duties  which  must  be  attended  to  and  which  leave  slight 
leisure  for  special  studies  or  special  labors.  Father  Hecker  or- 
ganized the  Paulist  community,  and  did  in  his  way  a  great  work 
for  the  conversion  of  the  country.  He  made  no  mistake  when 
he  planned    for  a  body  of  priests,    more  disciplined    than  usually 


Introduction. 


xvn 


are  the    parochial    clergy,  and    more    supple    in    the    character  of 
their  institute  than  the  existing  religious  orders. 

We  shall  always  distinguish  Isaac  Thomas  Hecker  as  the 
ornament,  the  flower  of  our  American  priesthood — the  type  that 
we  wish  to  see  reproduced  among  us  in  widest  proportions. 
Ameliorations  may  be  sought  for  in  details,  and  the  more  of  them 
the  better  for  religion  ;  but  the  great  lines  of  Father  Hecker's 
personality  we  should  guard  with  jealous  love  in  the  formation 
of  the  future  priestly  characters  of  America. 


THE  LIFE  OF  FATHER  HECKER. 


CHAPTER    I. 


CHILDHOOD. 


TOWARDS  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  a  German 
clockmaker  named  Engel  Freund,  accompanied  by  his  wife 
and  children,  left  his  native  town  of  Elberfeld,  in  Rhenish  Prussia, 
to  seek  a  new  home  in  America.  There  is  a  family  tradition  to 
the  effect  that  his  forefathers  were  French,  and  that  they  came 
into  Germany  on  account  of  some  internal  commotion  in  their 
own  country.  The  name  makes  it  more  probable  that  they  were 
Alsatians  who  quietly  moved  across  the  Rhine,  either  when  their 
province  was  first  ceded  to  France,  or  perhaps  later,  at  the  time 
of  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  in  1685.  When  Engel 
Freund  quitted  Germany  the  disturbing  influences  of  the  French 
Revolution  may  have  had  a  considerable  share  in  determining 
his  departure.  He  landed  at  New  York  in  1797  and  established 
himself  in  Hester  Street,  between  Christie  and  Forsyth. 

His  wife,  born  Ann  Elizabeth  Schneider,  in  1764,  was  a  na- 
tive of  Frankenburg,  Hesse  Cassel.  She  became  the  mother  of 
a  son  and  several  daughters,  who  attained  maturity  and  settled 
in  New  York.  As  his  girls  grew  into  womanhood  and  married, 
Engel  Freund,  who  was  a  thrifty  and  successful  tradesman  in  his 
prime,  dowered  each  of  them  with  a  house  in  his  own  neighbor- 
hood, seeking  thus  to  perpetuate  in  the  new  the  kindly  patri- 
archal customs  of  the  old  land. 

To  the  New-Yorker  of  to-day,  or,  indeed,  to  any  reputable 
and  industrious  immigrant,  the  notion  of  settling  a  family  in 
Hester  Street  could  not  seem  other  than  grotesque.  It  is  now 
the  filthy  and  swarming  centre  of  a  very  low  population.  The 
Jewish  pedlar  par  eminence  lives  there  and  thereabouts.  Signs 
painted    in    the   characters  of  his    race,  not    of    his  accidental    na- 


The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


tionality,  abound  on  every  side.  Here  a  synagogue  occupies  the 
story  above  a  shop ;  there  Masonic  symbols  are  exhibited  be- 
tween the  windows  in  a  similar  location.  Jewish  faces  of  the 
least  prepossessing  type  look  askance  into  eyes  which  they 
recognize  as  both  unfamiliar  and  observant.  Women,  unkempt 
and  slouchy,  or  else  arrayed  in  dubious  finery,  brush  against  one. 
At  intervals  fast  growing  greater  the  remains  of  an  extinct  domes- 
ticity and  privacy  still  show  themselves  in  the  shape  of  old-fash- 
ioned brick  or  wooden  houses  with  Dutch  gables  or  Queen 
Anne  fronts,  but  for  the  most  part  tall  tenement-houses,  their 
lower  stories  uniformly  given  up  to  some  small  traffic,  claim  ex- 
clusive right  of  possession.  The  sidewalks  are  crowded  with  the 
stalls  of  a  yet  more  petty  trade ;  the  neighborhood  is  full  of  un- 
pleasant sights,  unwholesome  odors,  and  revolting  sounds. 

But  the  Hester  Street  of  seventy  years  ago  and  more  was 
another  matter.  When  a  canal  flowed  through  Canal  Street,  and 
tall  trees  growing  on  either  side  of  it  sheltered  the  solid  and 
roomy  houses  of  retired  merchants  and  professional  men,  Hester 
Street  was  a  long  way  up  town.  S^ven  years  before  the  sub- 
ject of  the  present  biography  was  born,  that  elegantly  propor- 
tioned structure,  the  City  Hall,  which  had  then  been  nine  years 
a-building,  was  finished  in  material  much  less  expensive  than  had 
been  intended  when  it  was  begun.  Marble  was  very  dear,  rea- 
soned the  thrifty  and  far-sighted  City  Fathers  of  the  day,  and 
as  the  population  of  New  York  were  never  likely  to  settle  to 
any  extent  above  Chambers  Street,  the  rear  of  the  hall  would  be 
seen  so  seldom  that  this  economy  would  not  be  noticeable. 
What  is  now  Fourteenth  Street  was  then  a  place  given  over  to 
market-gardens.  Rutgers  Street,  Rutgers  Place,  Henry  Street, 
were  fashionable  localities,  and  the  adjacent  quarter,  now  so  mal- 
odorous and  disreputable,  was  eminently  respectable.  Freund's 
daughters,  as  they  left  the  parental  roof  for  modest  houses  of  his 
gift  close  by,  no  doubt  had  reason  to  consider  themselves  abun- 
dantly fortunate  in  their  surroundings. 

One  of  these  daughters,  Caroline  Sophia  Susanna  Henrietta 
Wilhelmina,  born  in  Elberfeld  on  the  2d  of  March,  1796,  was 
still  a  babe  in  arms  at  the  time  of  the  family  emigration.  She 
was  a  tall,  fair,  handsome  girl,  not  long  past  her  fifteenth  birth- 
day when  she  became  a  wife.  Her  husband,  John  Hecker,  was 
nearly  twice  her  age,  having  been  born  in  Wetzlar,  Prussia,  May 
7,   1782.     He  was  the  son  of  another  John  Hecker,  a  brewer  by 


Child  hood. 


trade,  who  married  the  daughter  of  a  Colonel  Schmidt.  Both 
parents  were  natives  of  Wetzlar.  Their  son  learned  the  business 
of  a  machinist  and  brass-founder,  and  emigrated  to  America  In 
1800.  He  was  married  to  Caroline  Freund  in  the  Old  Dutch 
Church  in  the  Swamp,  July  21,  181 1.  He  died  in  New  York, 
in  the  house  of  his  eldest  son,  July   10,    i860. 

Events  proved  John  Hecker  to  have  been  equally  fortunate 
and  sagacious  in  his  choice  of  a  wife.  At  the  time  of  their  mar- 
riage he  was  thrift}-  and  well-to-do.  At  one  period  he  owned  a 
flourishing  brass-foundry  in  Hester  Street,  and  during  his  early 
married  life  his  prosperity  was  uninterrupted.  But  before  many 
years  had  passed  his  business  declined,  and  from  one  cause  and 
another  he  never  succeeded  in  re-establishing  it.  This  misfor- 
tune, occurring  while  even  the  eldest  of  the  sons  was  still  a  lad, 
might  easily  have  proved  irreparable  in  more  senses  than  one. 
But  the  very  fact  that  the  ordinary  gates  to  learning  were  so  soon 
closed  against  these  children  caused  the  natural  tendency  they  had 
toward  knowledge  to  impel  them  all  the  more  strongly  in  that 
shorter  road  to  practical  wisdom  which  leads  through  labor  and 
experience.  The  Hecker  brothers  were  all  hard  at  work  while 
still  mere  children,  and  before  John,  the  eldest,  had  attained  to 
legal  manhood,  they  had  fixed  the  solid  foundations  of  an  en- 
during prosperity,  and  all  need  of  further  exertion  on  the  part 
of  their  parents  was  over  for  ever. 

Isaac  Thomas  Hecker,  the  third  son  and  youngest  child  of 
this  couple,  was  born  in  New  York  at  a  house  in  Christie  Street, 
between  Grand  and  Hester,  December  18,  18 19,  when  his  mother 
was  not  yet  twenty- four.  He  survived  her  by  twelve  years 
only,  she  dying  at  the  residence  of  her  eldest  son's  widow  in 
1876,  in  the  full  possession  of  faculties  which  must  have  been 
of  no  common  order.  From  her,  and  through  her  from  Engel 
Freund,  who  was  what  is  called  "  a  character,"  Father  Hecker 
seems  to  have  derived  many  of  his  life-long  peculiarities.  "  I 
never  knew  a  son  so  like  his  mother,"  writes  to  us  one  who 
had  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  both  of  them  for  more  than 
forty  years.      She  adds  : 

''Mrs.  Hecker  was  a  woman  of  great  energy  of  character  and  strong  re- 
ligious nature.  Her  son.  Father  Hecker,  inherited  both  of  these  traits,  and 
there  was  the  warmest  sympathy  between  them.  He  was  her  youngest  son,  her 
baby,  she  called  him,  but  with  all  her  tender  love  she  had  a  holy  veneration  for 
his  character  as  priest. 


The  Life  of  Father  Heeker. 


"  She  deeply  sympathized  with  him  through  the  trials  and  anxieties  that 
were  his  in  his  search  after  truth,  and  when  his  heart  found  rest,  and  the  aspira- 
tions of  his  soul  were  answered  in  the  Holy  Catholic  Church,  her  noble  heart 
accepted  for  him  what  she  could  not  see  for  herself.  She  said  to  a  lady  who 
spoke  to  her  on  the  subject  and  who  could  not  be  reconciled  to  the  conversion  of 
a  daughter  :  '  No,  I  would  not  change  the  faith  of  my  sons.  They  have  found 
peace  and  joy  in  the  Catholic  Church,  and  I  would  not  by  a  word  change  their 
faith,  if  I  could.' 

"  She  had  a  very  earnest  temperament,  and  what  she  did  she  did  with  all 
her  heart.  The  last  years  of  her  life  she  was  a  great  invalid,  but  from  her  sick 
room  she  did  wonders.  Family  ties  were  kept  warm,  and  no  one  whom  she  had 
loved  and  known  was  forgotten.  The  poor  were  ever  welcome,  and  came  to  her 
in  crowds,  never  leaving  without  help  and  consolation.  She  had  a  very  cheerful 
spirit,  and  a  bright,  pleasant,  and  even  witty  word  for  every  one. 

"  But  the  strongest  trait  in  her  character  was  her  deeply  religious  nature. 
With  the  Catholic  faith  it  would  have  found  expression  in  the  religious  life,  as 
she  sometimes  said  herself.  The  faith  she  had  made  her  most  earnest  and  de- 
vout, according  to  her  light." 

Mrs.  Georgiana  Bruce  Kirby,*  who  spent  a  month  at  the 
house  in  Rutgers  Street  just  after  Isaac  finally  returned  from 
Brook  Farm,  when  Mrs.  Heeker  was  in  the  prime  of  middle  life, 
speaks  of  her  as 

"a  lovely  and  dignified  character,  full  of  'humanities.'  She  was  fair, 
tall,  erect,  a  very  superior  example  of  the  German  house-mother.  Hers  was 
the  controlling  spirit  in  the  house,  and  her  wise  and  generous  influence  was 
felt  far  beyond  it.  She  was  a  life-long  Methodist,  and  took  me  with  her  to  a 
'Love  Feast,'  which  I  had  never  witnessed  before." 

To  the  good  sense,  good  temper,  and  strong  religious  nature 
of  Caroline  Heeker  her  children  owed,  and  always  cordially  ac- 
knowledged, a  heavy,  and  in  one  respect  an  almost  undivided, 
debt  of  gratitude.  Neither  Engel  Freund  nor  John  Heeker 
professed  any  religious  faith.  The  latter  was  never  in  the  habit 
of  attending  any  place  of  worship.  Both  were  Lutheran  so  far 
as  their  antecedents  could  make  them  so,  but  neither  seems  to 
have  practically  known  much  beyond  the  flat  negation,  or  at  best 
the  simple  disregard,  of  Christianity  to  which  Protestantism  bads 
more  or  less  quickly  according  as  the  logical  faculty  is  more  or 
less  developed  in  those  whose  minds  have  been  fed  upon  it. 
However,  there  was  nothing  aggressive  in  the  attitude  of  either 
toward  religious  observance.  The  grandfather  especially  seems 
to  have  been  a  "  gentle  sceptic,"  an  agnostic  in  the  germ,  affirm- 
ing nothing  beyond  the  natural,  probably  because  all  substantial 
ground    for    supernatural    affirmations    seemed    to    him    to  be  cut 

*  Years  of  Experience.     G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.     1887. 


Childhood.  5 


away  by  the  fundamental  training  imparted  to  him.  He  was  a 
kindly,  virtuous,  warm-hearted  man,  with  a  life  of  his  own  which 
made  him  incurious  and  thoughtful,  and  singularly  devoid  of  pre- 
judices. When  his  daughter  Caroline  elected  to  desert  the 
Reformed  Dutch  Church  in  which  the  family  had  a  pew,  and  to 
attach  herself  to  another  sect,  he  had  only  a  jocular  word  of 
surprise  to  say  concerning  her  odd  fancy  for  "  those  noisy  Meth- 
odists." He  had  a  true  German  fondness  for  old  ways  and  set- 
tled customs,  and  to  the  end  of  his  days  spoke  only  his  own 
vernacular. 

"  Why  don't  you  talk   English  ? "  somebody    once   asked    him 
toward  the  close  of  his  life. 

"I  don't -know  how,"    he   answered.       "I    never  had  time    to 
learn." 

"  Why,  how  long  have  you  been  here  ?  " 

"About  forty  years." 

"  Forty  years  !     And  isn't  that  time  enough  to  learn  English 

in  ? 

"  What  can  one  learn  in  forty  years  ?  "  said  the  old  man,  with 
an  unanswerable  twinkle. 

Between   him  and   the   youngest  of  his  Hecker   grandchildren 

there  existed  a  singular  sympathy  and  affection.       The  two  were 

very  much  together,  and  the  little  fellow  was    allowed    to    potter 

about    the  workshop    and  encouraged  to   study  the    ins  and    outs 

of  all  that  went  on  there,  as  well  as   entertained  with  kindly  talk 

that  may  at  first  have  been  a  trifle  above  his  years.     But  he  was 

a  precocious  child,  shrewd,  observant,  and  thoughtful.      It  was  in 

the  old  watchmaker's  shop  that  the    boy,   not  yet  a  dozen    years 

old,  and  already  hard    at  work    helping    to    earn  his  own    living, 

conceived  the    plan  of   making  a  clock    with    his  own   hands  and 

presenting    it    to  the    church  attended    by  the    family,  which   was 

situated    in    Forsyth    Street   between    Walker    and    Hester.     The 

clock  was  finished    in  due  time  and  set  up  in  the  church,   where 

it  ticked    faithfully   until    the   edifice   was    torn   down,  some   forty 

years  later.      Then   it  was    returned    to    its  maker    in  accordance 

with  a  promise  made  by  the  pastor  when  the  gift  was  accepted. 

In    1872    the    opening    number    of    the    third    volume    of     The 

Young   Catholic    contained  a   good    engraving  of  it,  accompanied 

by  a  sketch  descriptive  of  its  career.      Although    Father    Hecker 

did  not  write    the    little  story,  it    is  so  true    both    to  fact  and    to 

sentiment  that  we  make  an  extract  from  it.      The  clock  hung  in 


The  Life  of  FatJier  Hecker. 


the  Paulist  sacristy  for  about  ten  years.  Then,  for  some  reason, 
it  was  taken  to  the  country  house  of  Mr.  George  Hecker,  where 
it  was  accidentally  destroyed  by  fire  : 

"There  were  points  of  resemblance  in  my  own  and  my  boy  maker's  nature. 
In  him,  regularity,  order,  and  obedience  were  fixed  principles;  and  with  us  both, 
Time  represented  Eternity.  As  the  days  of  his  young  manhood  came  his  pur- 
suits and  tastes  in  life  changed.  Deep  thought  took  possession  of  his  mind,  and 
with  it  a  tender  love  for  souls  and  a  heart-hungriness  for  a  further  knowledge  of 
what  man  was  given  a  soul  for,  and  the  way  in  which  he  was  to  save  it  As  these 
thoughts  were  maturing  in  his  mind  I  often  noticed  his  troubled  look.  One  Sun- 
day in  particular,  he  lingered  behind  the  congregation  and  stood  before  me, 
with  a  new  expression  in  his  keen  gray  eye  ;  and  amid  the  silence  of  the  deserted 
aisles  he  thus  apostrophized  me  :  '  Farewell,  old  friend  !  fashioned  by  these  hands, 
thou  representest  Truth,  the  eternal.  What  man  is  ever  seeking,  through  me 
thou  hast  found.  Here  I  stand,  not  man's  but  God's  noblest  work,  as  yet  not 
having  repaid  my  Maker  with  one  act  of  duty  or  of  service.  Thou  hast  faithfully 
performed  thy  mission  ;  henceforth  I  labor  to  perform  mine.'  With  a  grave  and 
sad  look  my  boy  maker,  now  a  young  man,  left  me.  I  felt  then  that  we  had 
looked  our  last  upon  each  other  in  this  place  ;  but  little  did  either  of  us  dream 
of  where,  when,  and  how  we  would  meet  again.  For  thirty-five  years  I  labored 
on  unchanged,  though  I  must  own  to  having  had  some  ailments  now  and  then. 
About  this  period  of  my  existence  I  overheard  straggling  remarks,  as  the  wor- 
shippers passed  out  of  the  church,  which  led  me  to  conclude  that  some  change 
was  contemplated,  and  my  suspicions  were  confirmed  by  the  rector  proposing 
from  the  pulpit  the  erection  of  a  new  church  edifice  in  another  part  of  the  city, 
to  be  fashioned  after  a  more  modern  style  of  architecture.  ...  In  accordance 
with  the  promise  made  my  boy  maker,  I  was  to  go  back  to  him.  My  heart 
bounded  at  the  prospect.     Never  in  all  those  years  had  I  seen  him.  .  .  . 

"Ina  short  time  I  learned  that  the  author  of  my  existence,  after  many  hard 
,  struggles  and  trials,  had  at  last  found  truth  and  light,  peace  and  rest,  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Holy  Catholic  Church.  He  had  returned,  when  he  found  me,  from 
the  Plenary  Council  of  1867.  He  is  now  a  priest,  and  the  head  of  a  religious 
community.  Need  I  assure  those  who  have  been  interested  in  my  history  that  I 
also  have  found  a  home  in  the  same  community,  where  I  am  consecrated  to  its 
use?  I  am  no  longer  alone  now  ;  I  am  busy  from  morning  until  night,  helping 
to  regulate  the  movements  of  the  community.  There  is  not  an  hour  in  the  day 
when  I  do  not  see  my  boy  maker.  We  have  established  sympathies  in  common ; 
I  call  him  to  prayers,  to  his  meals,  to  his  matins,  and  to  his  rest.  Many  a  time, 
when  he  finds  me  alone,  he  gives  me  some  spiritual  reading,  or  says  aloud  some 
prayers.  Every  time  I  strike,  he  breathes  an  aspiration  of  love  and  thanksgiving. 
In  short,  we  have  found  our  glorious  mission  in  our  new  birth.  We  are  both 
apostles:  I  represent  Time  ;  he  preaches  of  Eternity." 

There  can  be  little  doubt,  however,  that  the  chief  formative 
influence  in  the  Hecker  household  was  that  which  came  directly 
through  the  mother.  Young  as  she  was  when  an  unduly  heavy 
share  of  the  domestic  burdens  fell  to  her  portion,  she  took  it  up 
with  courage  and  bore  it  with  dignity  and  fidelity.     What  aid  her 


Childhood. 


father  could  give  her  was  doubtless  not  lacking,  but  we  may  well 
suppose  that,  as  age  crept  on  Engel  Freund,  his  business  began 
to  slip  away  from  him  into  younger  hands.  He  was  probably  no 
longer  in  a  position  to  endow  daughters  or  to  undertake  the  edu- 
cation of  grandchildren.  What  is  certain  is  that  Caroline  Hecker's 
boys,  after  very  brief  school-days,  were  put  at  once  to  hard  work. 
What  decided  their  choice  of  an  occupation  is  not  so  sure,  but 
in  all  probability  they  consulted  with  their  mother  and  then  took 
the  common-sense  view  that  as  there  is  a  never  failing  market 
for  food  staples,  even  poverty,  if  mated  with  diligence  and  sagac- 
ity, may  find  there  a  fair  field  for  successful  enterprise.  John, 
the  eldest,  upon  whom  the  mother  soon  began  to  rely  as  her 
right  hand,  went  to  learn  his  trade  as  a  baker  with  a  Mr.  Schwab, 
whose  shop  was  on  the  corner  of  Hester  and  Eldridge  Streets. 
George,  who  was  some  three  or  four  years  younger,  as  the  only 
girl,  Elizabeth,  came  between  them,  presently  followed  his  brother 
to  the  same  business. 

As  for  Isaac,  whom  hard  necessity,  or,  more  probably,  a  mis- 
taken thrift,  likewise  forced  away  from  school  when  not  much 
more  than  ten  years  old,  his  earliest  ventures  bear  a  curious  sym- 
bolic likeness  to  his  latest.  He  earned  his  first  wages  in  the  ser- 
vice of  a  religious  periodical,  the  Methodist  publication  still  known 
as  Zions  Herald,  whose  office  was  situated  in  Crosby  Street  near 
Broadway.  From  there  he  went  to  learn  a  trade  in  the  type 
foundry  in  Great  Thames  Street.  But  as  it  was  already  apparent 
that  the  family  road  to  prosperity  was  identical  with  that  chosen 
by  his  elder  brothers,  we  find  him  working  away  beside  them  in 
the  bake-house  by  the  time  he  was  eleven.  They  had  already 
established  the  bakery  in  Rutgers  Street,  between  Monroe  and 
Cherry,  where  the  family  lived  for  so  many  years.  They  had 
another  shop  in  Pearl  Street,  to  which  Isaac  used  to  carry  bread 
every  morning. 

This  was  a  part  of  his  life  to  which  he  was  fond  of  recurring 
in  his  last  years.  "  Thanks  be  to  God  !"  he  said  on  the  first  day 
of  1886,  "how  hard  we  used  to  work  preparing  for  New  Year's 
Day  !  Three  weeks  in  advance  we  began  to  bake  New  Year's 
cakes — flour,  water,  sugar,  butter,  and  caraway  seeds.  We  never 
could  make  enough.  How  I  used  to  work  carrying  the  bread 
around  in  my  baker's  cart  !  How  often  I  got  stuck  in  the  gutters 
and  in  the  snow  !  Sometimes  some  good  soul,  seeing  me  unable 
to  get  along,  would  give  me  a  lift.      I    began    to    work   when    I 


8  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 


was    ten    and    a    half    years    old,    and    I    have    been    at    it    ever 
since." 

And  again,  a  few  days  later,  as  a  poor  woman  carrying  a  heavy 
basket  passed  him  in  the  street,  he  said  to  the  companion  of  his 
walk  :  "  I  have  had  the  blood  spurt  out  of  my  arm  carrying 
bread  when  I  was  a  baker.  A  lady  asked  me  once  for  a  hundred 
dollars  to  help  her  send  her  only  son  to  college.  I  answered  her 
that  my  mother  had  four  children  and  got  along  without  beg- 
ging, and  that  I  would  not  exchange  one  year  of  those  I  spent 
working  for  several  at  college." 

Less  than  a  month  before  his  death  he  fell  into  conversation 
with  a  newsboy  on  the  corner  near  the  Paulist  church  in  Fifty- 
ninth  Street.  "  It  interested  me  very  much,"  he  said  afterwards. 
"  I  found  out  that  he  is  one  of  five  little  brothers,  and  their 
mother  is  a  widow.  She  is  trying  to  bring  them  up,  poor  thing ! 
It  reminds  me  of  my  own  mother." 

It  is  plain  that  there  could  not  have  been  much  room  for  for- 
mal study  in  a  life  of  hard  physical  labor,  so  soon  begun  and  so 
unremittingly  continued  during  the  years  usually  given  up  to 
school  work.  An  ordinary  boy,  placed  in  such  circumstances, 
would  doubtless  have  grown  up  ignorant  and  unformed.  But  while 
none  of  the  Hecker  boys  was  quite  of  the  ordinary  stamp,  Isaac 
was  distinctly  sui generis  and  individual.  He  has  said  of  himself 
that  he  could  remember  no  period  of  his  life  when  he  had  not 
the  consciousness  of  having  been  sent  into  the  world  for  some 
especial  purpose.  What  it  was  he  knew  not,  but  expectation  and 
desire  for  the  withheld  knowledge  kept  him  pondering  and  self- 
withdrawn.  Once  in  his  childhood  he  was  given  over  for  death 
with  a  bad  attack  of  confluent  small-pox,  and  his  mother  came 
to  his  bedside  to  tell  him  so.  "  No,  mother,"  he  answered  her, 
"  I  shall  not  die  now.  God  has  a  work  for  me  to  do  in  the 
world,  and  I  shall  live  to  do  it." 

Such  instruction  as  Isaac  obtained  before  beginning  to  earn 
his  own  bread  was  given  him  in  Ward  School  No.  7.  A  Dr. 
Kirby  was  then  its  principal,  and  the  time  was  just  previous  to 
the  introduction  of  the  present  system.  The  schools  were  not 
entirely  free,  a  small  payment  being  required  from  the  parents  for 
each  pupil,  to  supplement  the  grant  of  public  funds.  No  doubt 
the  boy,  who  had  an  ardent  thirst  for  knowledge,  regretted  his 
removal  from  his  desk  more  deeply  than  he  was  at  the  time  will- 
ing to  express.     Still,  it  may  be  questioned  whether  he  ever  had 


Childhood. 


any  natural  aptitude  for  close,  continuous  book-work,  at  least  on  or- 
dinary and  prescribed  lines.  He  was  "  always  studying,"  indeed, 
as  he  sometimes  said  in  speaking  of  his  early  life,  but  the  thoughts 
of  other  men,  whether  written  or  spoken,  do  not  seem  to  have  been 
greatly  valued  by  him,  except  as  keys  which  might  help  him  to 
unlock  those  mysteries  of  God  and  man,  and  their  mutual  rela- 
tions, which  tormented  him  from  the  first.  He  was  to  the  last  an 
indefatigable  reader,  but  yet  it  would  be  true  to  say  that  he  was 
never  either  a  student  or  a  scholar  in  the  ordinary  sense.  It  is 
a  curious  question  as  to  how  a  thorough  education  might  have 
modified  Father  Hecker.  It  is  possible — nay,  as  the  reader  may 
be  inclined  to  believe  with  us  as  the  story  of  his  inner  life  goes 
on,  it  is  even  probable — that  the  more  he  was  taught  by  God  the 
less  he  was  able  to  receive  from  men. 

It  is  certain,  however,  that  he  seriously  regretted  and  soon  set 
himself  to  rectify  the  deficiencies  of  his  early  training.  This  was 
one  of  the  reasons  which  took  him  to  Brook  Farm.  In  the  first 
entry  of  the  earliest  of  his  diaries  which  has  been  preserved  he 
thus  speaks  of  his  hidden  longing  after  knowledge.  He  was 
twenty-three  when  these  sentences  were  written,  and  he  had  been 
at  Brook  Farm  for  several  months  : 

"  If  I  cast  a  glance  upon  a  few  years  of  my  past  life,  it  appears  to  me  mysteri- 
ously incomprehensible  that  I  should  be  where  I  am  now.  I  confess  sincerely  that, 
although  1  have  never  labored  for  it,  still,  something  in  me  always  dreamed  of  it. 
Once,  when  I  was  lying  on  the  floor,  my  mother  said  to  my  brother  John,  with- 
out anything  previously  being  spoken  on  the  subject,  and  suddenly,  in  a  kind 
of  unconscious  speech,  '  John,  let  Isaac  go  to  college  and  study.'  These 
words  went  through  me  like  liquid  fire.  He  made  some  evasive  answer  and 
there  it  ended.  Although  to  study  has  always  been  the  secret  desire  of  my  heart 
from  my  youth,  I  never  felt  inclined  to  open  my  mind  to  any  one  on  the  subject. 
And  now  I  find,  after  a  long  time,  that  I  have  been  led  here  as  strangely  as  pos- 
sible." 

His  childhood  seems  to  have  been  a  serious  one.  In  recurring 
to  it  in  later  life,  as  he  often  did,  he  never  spoke  of  any  games 
or  sports  in  which  he  had  shared,  nor,  in  fact,  of  any  amusements 
before  the  time  when  he  began  to  attend  lectures  and  the  theatre. 
It  was  the  childhood  of  what  we  call  in  America  a  self-made 
man — one  in  which  the  plastic  human  material  is  rudely  dealt 
with  by  circumstances.  His  mother  taught  him  his  prayers,  the 
schoolmistress  his  letters,  necessity  his  daily  round  of  duties,  and 
for  the  rest  he  was  left  very  much  to  himself  and  to  that  interior 
Master  of  whose   stress    and  constraint    upon   him  he  grew  more 


io  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 


intimately  conscious  as  he  grew  in  years.  The  force  of  this  in- 
ward pressure  showed  itself  in  many  ways.  Outwardly  it  made 
his  manner  undemonstrative,  and  fixed  an  intangible  yet  very 
real  barrier  between  him  and  his  kindred,  even  when  the  affection 
that  existed  was  extremely  close  and  tender.  From  infancy  he 
exhibited  that  repugnance  to  touching  or  being  touched  by  any 
one  which  marked  him  to  the  end.  Even  his  mother  refrained 
from  embracing  him,  knowing  this  singular  aversion.  She  would 
stroke  his  face,  instead,  when  she  was  pleased  with  him,  and  say, 
"That  is   my  kiss   for  you,    my   son." 

The  mutual  respect  for  each  other's  personalities  shown  in 
this  closest  of  human  relations  was  characteristic  of  the  entire 
family,  as  will  be  seen  later,  when  the  nature  of  the  business 
connections  between  Isaac  and  his  brothers  has  to  be  considered. 
Far  from  weakening  the  natural  ties,  or  impairing  their  proper 
influence,  it  seems  to  have  strengthened  and  perfected  them. 
Asked  once  towards  the  close  of  his  life  how  it  was  that  he  had 
never  used  tobacco  in  any  form,  he  answered  :  "  Mother  forbade 
it,  and  that  was  enough  for  George  and  me.  I  was  never  ruled 
in  any  way  but  by  her  affection.  That  was  sufficient"  The 
parallel  fact  that  he  never  in  his  life  drank  a  drop  of  liquor  at  a 
bar  or  at  any  public  place  was  probably  due  to  a  similar  injunc- 
tion. The  children  were  brought  up,  too,  with  exceedingly  strict 
ideas  about  lying  and  stealing,  and  all  petty  vices.  Throughout 
the  family  there  prevailed  an  extreme  severity  on  such  faults. 
"  I  have  never  forgotten,"  said  Father  Heckef,  "  the  furious  anger 
of  an  aunt  of  mine  and  the  violent  beating  she  gave  one  of  my 
cousins  for  stealing  a  cent  from  her  drawer.  That  training  has 
had  a  great  and  lasting   effect  upon  my  character." 

In  such  antecedents  and  surroundings  it  is  easy  to  see  the  source 
of  that  abiding  confidence  in  human  nature,  and  that  love  for  the 
natural  virtues  which  marked  Father  Hecker's  whole  career. 
They  had  kept  his  own  youth  pure.  He  had  been  baptized  in  in- 
fancy, however,  as  the  children  of  orthodox  Protestants  more  com- 
monly were  at  that  period  than  at  present,  and  in  all  probability 
validly,  so  that  one  could  never  positively  say  that  nature  in  him 
had  ever  been  unaided  by  grace  in  any  particular  instance.  It  is 
the  conviction  of  those  who  knew  him  best  that  he  had  never 
been  guilty  of  deliberate  mortal  sin.     One  of  these  writes : 

"  During  all  the  intimate  hours  I  spent  with  him,  speaking  of  his  past  life 
he  never  once  said  that  he  had  been  a  sinner  \n  a  sense  to  convey  the  idea  of  mortal 


Childhood.  1 1 


sin.  And  on  the  other  hand  he  said  much  to  the  contrary ;  so  much  as  to  leave 
no  manner  of  doubt  on  my  mind  that  he  had  kept  his  baptismal  innocence. 
He  was  deeply  attached  to  an  edifying  and  religious  mother ;  he  was  at  hard 
work  before  the  dawn  of  sensual  passion,  and  his  recreation,  even  as  a  boy,  was 
in  talking  and  reading  about  deep  social  and  philosophical  questions,  and  lis- 
tening to  others  on  the  same  themes.  He  expressly  told  me  that  he  had  never 
used  drink  in  excess,  and  that  he  had  never  sinned  against  purity,  never  was 
profane,  never  told  a  lie  ;   and  he  certainly  never  was  dishonest. 

"The  influence  of  his  mother  was  of  the  most  powerful  kind.  He  told  me 
that  the  severest  punishment  she  ever  inflicted  on  him  was  once  or  twice  (once 
only,  I  am  pretty  sure)  to  tell  him  that  she  was  angry  with  him ;  and  this  so 
distressed  him  that  he  was  utterly  miserable,  sat  down  on  the  floor  completely 
overcome,  and  so  remained  till  she  after  a  time  relented  and  restored  him  to 
favor.  Such  a  relationship  is  quite  instructive  in  reference  to  the  original  inno- 
cence of  his  life." 


CHAPTER  II. 

YOUTH. 

I 

IT  has  been  said  already,  in  speaking  of  Father  Hecker's  childhood, 
that  he  had  been  consciously  under  the  influence  of  super- 
natural impressions  from  a  very  early  period.  It  seems  probable, 
therefore,  that  at  least  during  the  few  years  which  preceded  his 
juvenile  plunge  into  politics  he  must  have  been  devout  and 
prayerful,  though  doubtless  in  his  own  spontaneous  way.  Such 
were  his  mother's  characteristics,  and  we  find  her  son  writing  to 
her,  when  his  aspirations  after  the  perfect  life  had  led  him  to  the 
threshold  of  the  church,  that  she,  of  all  persons,  ought  most  to 
sympathize  with  him,  for  he  is  about  doing  that  which  will  aid 
him  to  be  what  she  has  always  desired  to  see  him.  But  his  de- 
votions probably  bore  small  resemblance  to  those  of  the  ordinary 
religiously  minded  boy,  either  Catholic  or  Protestant.  He  has 
said  that  often  at  night,  when  lying  on  the  shavings  before  the 
oven  in  the  bake-house,  he  would  start  up,  roused  in  spite  of 
himself  by  some  great  thought,  and  run  out  upon  the  wharves  to 
look  at  the  East  River  in  the  moonlight,  or  wander  about  under 
the  spell  of  some  resistless  aspiration.  What  does  God  desire  from 
me?  How  shall  I  attain  unto  Him?  What  is  it  He  has  sent 
me  into  the  world  to  do  ?  These  were  the  ceaseless  questions  of 
a  heart  that  rested,  meanwhile,  in  an  unshaken  confidence  that 
time  would  bring  the  answer. 

But  these  were  early  days,  days  when  the  influence  of  his 
mother,  never  wholly  shaken  off,  was  still  dominant  and  pervasive 
in  all  that  concerned  him.  There  came  a  period,  however,  begin- 
ning ui  all  likelihood  about  his  fourteenth,  and  lasting  until  his 
twentieth  year  or  thereabouts,  in  which  he  certainly  lost  hold  on 
all  distinctively  Christian  doctrines.  With  such  a  mind  as  his, 
and  such  a  training,  this  was  almost  inevitable.  His  intellect, 
while  it  hungered  incessantly  after  supernatural  truth,  kept  never- 
theless a  persistent  hold  upon  the  verities  of  the  natural  order, 
and  could  not  rest  until  it  had  synthetized  them  into  a  coherent 
whole.  That  was  his  life-long  characteristic.  During  the  years 
of  painful  ill  health  which  preceded  his  death,  he  often  said  that 
he  was  unlike  the  Celt,  who  takes  to  the  supernatural  as  if  by 
instinct.     "  But  I  am  a  Saxon  and  cling  to  the  earth,"  he  would 


Youth.  1 3 

say;  "I  want  an  explicit  and  satisfactory  reason  why  any  inno- 
cent pleasure  should  not  be  enjoyed."  He  attributed  this  to  his 
racial  peculiarities.  Others  may  differ  with  him  and  credit  it  to 
his  nature,  taken  in  its  human  and  rational  integrity.  Further- 
more, he  was  always  singularly  independent  and  self-poised.  He 
could  not  endure  being  hindered  of  anything  that  was  his,  except 
by  an  authority  which  had  legitimated  to  his  intelligence  its  right 
to  command.  He  could  obey  that  readily  and  entirely,  as  his 
life  from  infancy  clearly  witnesses  ;  but  he  never  knew  a  merely 
arbitrary  master. 

Such  a  nature,  fed  on  the  mingled  truth  and  error  character- 
istic of  orthodox  Protestantism,  was  certain  to  reject  it  sooner 
or  later,  impelled  by  hunger  for  the  whole  Divine  gift  of  which 
that  teaching  contains  fragments  only.  The  soul  of  Isaac  Hecker 
was  one  athirst  for  God  from  the  first  dawn  of  its  conscious 
being.  Upon  Him,  its  Creator  and  Source,  it  never  lost  hold, 
and  never  ceased  to  cry  out  for  Him  with  longing  and  aspira- 
tion, even  during  that  bitter  and  protracted  period  of  his  youth 
when  his  mind,  entangled  in  the  maze  of  philosophic  subjectiv- 
ism, seemed  in  danger  of  rejecting  theism  altogether.  But  the 
underpinning  of  his  faith,  so  far  as  that  professed  to  be  Chris- 
tian and  to  come  by  hearing — to  have  an  intellectual  basis,  that 
is — began  to  slip  away  almost  as  soon  as  he  left  his  mother's 
knee.  It  is  possible  that  very  little  stress  was  ever  laid  upon 
distinctively  Christian  doctrines  in  her  teaching.  To  adore  God 
the  Creator,  to  listen  to  His  voice  in  conscience,  to  live  hon- 
estly and  purely  as  in  His  sight — the  heritage  she  transmitted 
to  him  probably  contained  little  more  than  this.  Like  most 
others  reared  in  heresy  who  afterwards  attain  to  the  true  knowl- 
edge of  the  Incarnation,  he  had  to  seek  for  it  with  almost  as 
great  travail  of  mind  as  if  he  had  been  born  a  pagan.  It  can- 
not be  too  strongly  insisted  on,  however,  that  his  struggles  were 
merely  intellectual,  and,  when  they  began  to  take  a  definite  turn, 
shaped  themselves  into  the  natural  result  of  a  metaphysic  as  re- 
pugnant to  common  sense  as  it  is  to  Christian  philosophy.  To 
this  fact,  so  important  in  certain  of  its  bearings,  we  have  ample 
testimony  in  the  private  diaries  kept  before  his  conversion,  from 
which  we  shall  make  extracts  later  on.  They  find  a  later  con- 
firmation in  some  most  interesting  memoranda,  jotted  down,  after 
conversation  with  him  at  intervals  during  the  last  years  of  his 
life,  by    one    whom    he  admitted  to  an  unusually  close    intimacy. 


1 4  The  Life  of  FatJicr  Heckcr. 

He  was  always  singularly  reserved  concerning  matters  purely 
personal ;  his  confidences,  when  they  touched  his  own  soul,  sel- 
dom seemed  entirely  voluntary,  and  were  quickly  checked. 
Occasionally  they  were  taken  by  surprise,  as  when  the  course  of 
talk  insensibly  turned  toward  internal  ways ;  and  again  they  were 
deliberately  angled  for  with  a  hook  so  well  concealed  that  it 
secured  a  prize  before  he  was  aware.  From  these  notes  we 
shall  here  make  a  few  quotations  bearing  on  the  point  made 
above — i.e.,  that  his  difficulties  prior  to  his  entrance  into  the 
church  were  neither  moral  nor  spiritual,  but  intellectual.  Of 
him,  if  of  any  man,  it  was  always  true  that  his  heart  was  natu- 
rally Christian.  The  first  of  these  extracts,  bearing  as  it  does 
on  a  topic  constantly  in  his  thoughts,  affords  a  good  enough 
example  of  what  was  meant  in  saying  that  his  confidences  were 
sometimes  taken  by  surprise  : 

"  There  are  some  for  whom  the  predominant  influence  is  the  external  one, 
authority,  example,  precept,  and  the  like.  Others  in  whose  lives  the  interior 
action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  predominates.  In  my  case,  from  my  childhood  God 
influenced  me  by  an  interior  light  and  by  the  interior  touch  of  His  Holy 
Spirit.'5 

At  another  time  he  said : 

"  While  I  was  a  youth,  and  in  early  manhood,  I  was  preserved  from  certain 
sins  and  certain  occasions  of  sin,  in  a  way  that  was  peculiar  and  remarkable.  I 
was  also  at  the  same  time,  and,  indeed,  all  the  time,  conscious  that  God  was 
preserving  me  innocent  with  a  view  to  some  future  providence.  Mind,  all  this 
was  lone  before  I  came  into  the  church." 


';-> 


And  again : 

"  Many  a  time  before  my  conversion  God  gave  me  grace  to  weep  over 
those  words  :  '  And  all  those  who  love  His  coming.'  I  did  not  believe  in  His 
coming,  but  I  loved  it  honestly  and  longed  to  believe  it.  I  had  learned  much 
of  the  Bible  from  my  mother  and  had  read  it  often  and  much  myself." 

This  consciously  supernatural  character  of  his  inner  life  from 
the  first,  should  be  kept  closely  united  in  the  reader's  mind 
with  that  other  idea  of  his  adhesion  to  "  guileless  nature  "  which 
was  such  a  favorite  theme  with  Father  Hecker.  No  one  could  be 
more  emphatic  than  he  in  asserting  the  necessity  of  the  super- 
natural for  the  attainment  of  man's  destiny.  How  could  it  be 
otherwise,  when  he  considered  that  destiny  to  be  the  elevation 
of  man  above  all  good  merely  human,  and  by  means  far  beyond 
the  compass  of  his  natural  powers  ?  Still,  this  was  undoubtedly 
a  conclusion  of  his  riper  years,  a  result  arrived  at  after  a  certain 


Youth.  1 5 

intense  if  not  very  prolonged  experience  in  contemporary  Uto- 
pias, in  futile  endeavors  to  raise  man  above  his  own  level  while 
remaining  on   it,   whether  by  socialistic  schemes    or  social  politics. 

In  an  article  called  "Dr.  Brownson  and  the  Workingman's 
Party  Fifty  Years  Ago,"  published  in  The  CatJiolic  World 
of  May,  1887,  Father  Hecker  lias  himself  made  some  interesting 
references  to  his  experiences  in  the  latter  field,  and  upon  these 
we  shall  draw  heavily  for  our  own  account  of  this  period  of  his 
life,  supplementing  them  with  whatever  bears  upon  the  subject 
in  the   memoranda  already  referred  to. 

Concerning  the  inception  of  this  party,  to  which  all  three  of 
the  young  Heckers  belonged  in  1834,  we  have  a  better  state- 
ment in  Dr.  Brownson's  Convert  than  we  know  of  elsewhere. 
Brownson  was  for  a  time  actively  interested  in  it,  and  in  1829 
established  a  journal  in  support  of  its  principles  somewhere  in 
Western  New  York.  From  him  we  learn  that  it  was  started  in 
1828  by  Robert  Dale  Owen,  Robert  L.  Jennings,  George  H. 
Evans,  Fanny  Wright,  and  a  few  other  doctrinaires,  foreign-born 
without  exception,  in  the  hope  of  getting  control  of  political 
power  so  as  to  use  it  for  establishing  purely  secular  schools. 
Their  advocacy  of  anti-Christian  and  free-love  doctrines  had  so 
signally  failed  among  adult  Americans  that  the  slower  but  surer 
method  of  educating  the  children  of  the  country  without  religion 
had  dawned  upon  them  as  more    certain  to  succeed. 

"  We  hoped,"  writes  Dr.  Brownson,  "  by  linking  our  cause  with  the  ultra- 
democratic  sentiment  of  the  country,  which  had  had  from  the  time  of  Jefferson 
and  Tom  Paine  something  of  an  anti-Christian  character  ;  by  professing  our- 
selves the  bold  and  uncompromising  champions  of  equality ;  by  expressing  a 
great  love  for  the  people  and  a  deep  sympathy  with  the  laborer,  whom  we  repre- 
sented as  defrauded  and  oppressed  by  his  employer ;  by  denouncing  all  pro- 
prietors as  aristocrats,  and  by  keeping  the  more  unpopular  features  of  our  plan 
as  far  in  the  background  as  possible,  to  enlist  the  majority  of  the  American 
people  under  the  banner  of  the  Workingman's  party  ;  nothing  doubting  that, 
if  we  could  once  raise  that  party  to  power,  we  could  use  it  to  secure  the  adoption 
of  our  educational  system." 

This  party,  however,  both  as  an  engine  in  politics  and  as  a 
fitting  embodiment  of  his  private  views,  Dr.  Brownson  soon  aban- 
doned. He  was  not  truly  radical,  in  the  evil  sense  of  that  word, 
at  any  period  of  his  career,  and  the  theories  of  the  leaders  soon 
became  insupportable  to  his  moral  sense.  But  he  remained  true 
to  the  cause  of   the  workingmen  while  abandoning  the  organiza- 


1 6  The  Life  of  FatJicr  Hccker. 

tion  which  assumed  to  voice  their  needs  and  their  wishes.  Probably 
these  more  ulterior  aims  of  their  leaders  were  never  fully  appre- 
ciated by  the  rank  and  file  of  those  who  followed  them.  Yet 
the  genesis  of  the  present  purely  secular  school  system,  against 
whose  workings  and  results  nearly  all  Christian  denominations 
are  too  late  beginning  to  protest,  is  clearly  traceable  to  the  pro- 
paganda carried  on  half  a  century  ago  by  men  and  women 
whose  only  half-veiled  warfare  against  Christianity,  property,  and 
marriage  was  then  an  offence  in  the  nostrils  of  our  people 
at  large.  It  is  fair  to  predict  that  this  generation,  or  another 
which  shall  succeed  it,  will  yet  have  the  good  sense  to  regret,  and 
the  courage  to  atone  for,  the  fact  that  hatred  to  the  Catholic  Church, 
and  a  desire  to  cripple  her  hands  where  her  own  children  were 
concerned,  should  have  been  a  more  powerful  agent  in  dragging 
them  and  theirs  into  the  abyss  of  secularism  than  was  their  love 
of  Christianity  in   deterring  them  from  it. 

Father  Heckers  account  of  his  own  youthful  connection  with 
the  "  Workingman's  Democracy,"  although  written  with  the 
direct  intention  of  placing  his  estimate  of  Dr.  Brownson  on 
record,  has  too  many  strictly  autobiographic  touches  in  it  to  be 
here  omitted.  Such  passages,  bearing  on  long  past  personal 
history,  are  fewer  than  we  could  wish  them  among  his  papers, 
published  or  unpublished.  The  five  articles  on  Dr.  Brownson, 
beginning  in  The  Catholic  World  of  April,  1887,  and  con- 
cluding in  November  of  the  same  year,  contain  almost  the  only 
matters  relative  to  his  personal  history  which  he  ever  put  into 
print.  Concerning  the  party,  of  which  Dr.  Brownson  says  that 
he  had  ceased  to  be  a  recognized  leader  at  this  time,  al- 
though he  still  threw  his  influence  as  a  speaker  into  all  its 
projects    for  social    reform,   Father    Hecker  writes  : 

"  We  called  ourselves  the  genuine  Democracy,  and  in  New  York  City  were  for 
some  years  a  separate  political  body,  independent  of  the  '  regular  '  Democracy, 
and  voting  our  own  ticket.  I  have  before  me  the  files  of  our  newspaper  organ, 
the  Democrat,  the  first  number  of  which  appeared  March  9,  1836,  published  by 
Windt  &  Conrad,  11  Frankfort  Street.  In  its  prospectus  the  Democrat  promises 
to  contend  for  '  Equality  of  Rights,  often  trampled  in  the  dust  by  Monopoly 
Democrats,'  to  battle  '  with  an  aristocratic  opposition  powerful  in  talent  and 
official  entrenchment,  and  mighty  in  money  and  facilities  for  corruption.' 
'In  the  course  of  this  duty  it  will  not  fail  fearlessly  and  fully  to  assert  the  in- 
alienable rights  of  the  people  against  '  vested  rights'  and  'vested  wrongs.'  It 
claims  to  be  the  'instructive  companion'  of  the  mechanics'  and  workingmen's 
leisure,  '  the  promotion  of  whose  interests  will  ever  form  a  leading  feature  of 
the  Democrats     And  in  the  editorial  salutatory  it  speaks  thus  : 


Youth.  1 7 

"'We  are  in  favor  of  government  by  the  people.  Our  objects  are  the 
restoration  of  equal  rights  and  the  prostration  of  those  aristocratical  usurpations 
existing  in  the  state  of  monopolies  and  exclusive  privileges  of  e very  kind,  the 
products  of  corrupt  and  corrupting  legislation.  ...  At  this  moment  we  are 
the  only  large  nation  on  the  face  of  the  earth  where  the  mass  of  the  people 
govern  in  theory — where  they  may  govern  in  reality,  if  they  will — where  the 
real  taxes  of  government,  although  too  heavy,  are  but  trifling,  and  where  a 
majority  of  the  population  depend  on  their  own  labor  for  support ;  yet  such  is 
the  condition  of  that  large  class  that  the  fruits  of  their  toil  are  inadequate  to  sus- 
tain themselves  in  comfort  and  rear  their  families  as  the  young  citizens  of  a  re- 
public ought  to  be  reared. 

"  '.  .  .  He  is  very  shortsighted,  however,  who  thinks  that  a  majority  of  the 
people,  where  universal  suffrage  exists,  will  submit  long  to  a  state  of  toil  and 
mendicity.  The  majority  would  soon  learn  to  exercise  its  political  rights,  and 
command  its  representatives  to  carry  the  laws  abolishing  primogeniture  and  en- 
tails one  step  further,  and  stop  all  devises  of  land  and  prohibit  it  from  being  an 
article  of  sale.  (In  a  foot-note  of  the  editorial : )  We  actually  heard  these  and 
several  such  propositions  discussed  by  a  number  of  apparently  very  intelligent 
mechanics,  after  the  adjournment  of  a  meeting  called  to  consider  the  subject  of 
wages,  rents,  etc' 

"  At  that  time  the  main  question  was  the  condition  of  the  public  finances, 
and  our  agitation  was  directed  chiefly  against  granting  charters  to  private  banks 
of  circulation.  We  condemned  these  as  monopolies,  for  we  were  hostile  to  all 
monopolies — that  is  to  say,  to  the  use  of  public  funds  or  the  enjoyment  of  public 
exclusive  privileges  by  any  man  or  association  or  class  of  men  for  their  private 
profit." 

We  interrupt  our  direct  quotation  from  this  article  in  order 
to  relate  one  of  the  humors  of  the  period,  so  far  as  these  bro- 
thers were  concerned,  in  the  words  of  the  late  Mr.  George 
Hecker: 

"  When  we  were  bakers  the  money  in  common  use  was  the 
old-fashioned  paper  issued  by  private  banks  under  State  charters. 
We  were  regularly  against  it.  So  we  bought  a  hand  printing- 
press  and  set  it  up  in  the  garret  of  our  establishment.  All  the 
bills  we  received  from  our  customers,  some  thousands  sometimes 
every  week,  we  smoothed  out  and  put  in  a  pile,  and  then  printed 
on  their  backs  a  saying  we  took  from  Daniel  Webster  (though  I 
believe  it  was  not  quite  authentic)  :  '  Of  all  the  contrivances  to 
impoverish  the  laboring  classes  of  mankind,  paper  money  is  the 
most  effective.  It  fertilizes  the  rich  man's  field  with  the  poor 
man's  sweat.'  They  tried  to  punish  us  for  defacing  money, 
but  we  beat  them.  We  didn't  deface  it ;  we  only  printed  some- 
thing on  the  back  of  it.  Isaac  and  I  often  worked  all  night  put- 
ting up  handbills  for  our  meetings,  for  in  those  days  there  were 
no  professional  bill-posters." 


1 8  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

Father  Hecker's  acquaintance  with  Dr.  Brownson,  which  had 
so  powerful  an  effect  upon  his  future  career,  began  in  1834, 
when  Brownson  was  invited  to  lecture  in  New  York  in  favor  of 
the  principles  and  aims  of  this  party.  Isaac  was  then  in  his  fif- 
teenth year.  Among  the  conversations  recorded  in  the  memo- 
randa we  find  this  reference  to  their  earliest  interview  : 

"  I  first  met  Dr.  Brownson  in  New  York,  in  our  house.  I  was  then  read- 
ing the  Washington  Globe,  Benton's  speeches,  Calhoun's,  etc.  The  elder  Blair 
was  its  editor  ;  its  motto  was,  '  The  world  is  governed  too  much  ' — a  motto  in 
whose  spirit  there  could  be  no  great  movement  except  in  the  way  of  revolution. 
After  the  establishment  of  the  American  Government  the  principle  expressed 
in  that  motto  could  only  be  abandoned  or  pushed  into  revolution  and  anarchy. 

"  I  put  this  question  to  Brownson  :  '  How  can  I  become  certain  of  the 
objective  reality  of  the  operations  of  my  soul  ? '  He  answered:  '  If  you  have 
not  yet  reached  that  period  of  mental  life,  you  will  do  so  before  many  years.' 

"  It  is  a  great  humiliation  for  me  to  admit  that  I  was  ever  in  a  state  in  which 
I  doubted  the  actual  validity  of  the  testimony  of  my  own  faculties,  and  the  real- 
ity of  the  phenomena  of  my  mental  existence.  I  had  begun  my  mental  life  in 
politics,  and  in  a  certain  sense  in  religion  ;  but  to  my  philosophical  life  I  was 
yet  unborn." 

In  the  article  on  the  "  Workingman's  Party,"  already  quoted 
from.  Father  Hecker,  after  mentioning  that  Dr.  Brownson  con- 
tinued to  lecture  before  the  New  York  members  of  the  party 
for  several  years,  goes  on  as  follows  : 

"If  it  be  asked  why  a  man  like  Dr.  Brownson,  a  born  philosopher,  should 
have  thus  busied  himself  with  the  solution  of  the  most  practical  of  problems  by 
undertaking  to  abolish  inequality  among  men,  the  answer  is  plain.  The  true 
philosopher  will  not  confine  himself  to  abstract  theories.  But,  furthermore, 
Brownson  at  this  epoch  of  his  life  had  lost  his  grip  on  the  philosophy  that  leads 
men  to  trust  in  a  supernatural  happiness  to  be  enjoyed  in  a  future  state  ;  and 
■  the  man  who  does  not  look  to  the  hope  of  a  future  state  of  beatitude  for  the 
chief  solace  of  human  misery  must  look  to  this  life  as  its  end.  If  a  man  does 
not  seek  beatitude  in  God  he  seeks  it  in  himself  and  his  fellow-men — in  the 
highest  earthly  development  of  our  better  nature  if  he  becomes  a  socialist  of 
one  school,  and  in  the  lusts  of  the  animal  man  if  he  becomes  a  socialist  of  the 
brutal  school.  The  man  who  has  any  sympathy  in  his  heart  and  is  not  guided 
by  Catholic  ethics,  if  he  reasons  at  all  on  public  affairs,  will  become  a  socialist 
of  some  school  or  other.     Says  Dr.  Brownson  in  The  Convert,  p.  101  : 

"  '  The  end  of  man,  as  disclosed  by  my  creed  of  1829,  is  obviously  an  earthly  end,  to  be 
attained  in  this  life.  Man  was  not  made  for  God,  and  destined  to  find  his  beatitude  in  the 
possession  of  God  his  Supreme  Good,  the  Supreme  Good  itself.  His  end  was  happiness — not 
happiness  in  God,  but  in  the  possession  of  the  good  things  of  this  world.  Our  Lord  had  said, 
1  Be  not  anxious  as  to  what  ye  shall  eat,  or  what  ye  shall  drink,  or  wherewithal  ye  shall  be 
clothed  ;  for  after  all  these  things  do  the  heathen  seek.'    I  gave  Him  a  flat  denial,  and  said,  Be 


Youth.  19 

anxious;  labor  especially  for  these  things,  first  for  yourselves,  then  for  others.  Enlarging, 
however,  my  views  a  little,  I  said,  Man's  end  for  which  he  is  to  labor  is  the  well-being  and 
happiness  of  man  in  this  world— is  to  develop  man's  whole'  nature,  and  so  to  organize  society 
and  government  as  to  secure  all  men  a  paradise  on  the  earth.  This  view  of  the  end  to  labor 
for  I  held  steadily  and  without  wavering  from  1828  till  1842,  when  I  began  to  find  myself  tending 
unconsciously  towards  the  Catholic  Church.' 

"  The  reader  will  have  seen  by  the  extracts  given  that  we  were  a  party  full 
of  enthusiasm.  I  was  but  fifteen  when  our  party  called  Dr.  Brownson  to  deliver 
the  lectures  above  mentioned.  Hut  my  brothers  and  1  had  long  been  playing 
men's  parts  in  politics.  I  remember  when  eleven  years  of  age,  or  a  year  or  two 
older,  being  tall  for  my  years,  proposing  and  carrying  through  a  series  of  reso- 
lutions on  the  currency  question  at  our  ward  meetings.  As  our  name  indicates — 
'  Workingman's  Democracy  ' — we  were  a  kind  of  Democrats.  As  to  the  Whig 
party,  it  received  no  great  attention  from  us.  At  that  time  its  chances  of  getting 
control  of  this  State  or  of  the  United  States  were  remote.  Our  biggest  fight  was 
against  the  '  usages  of  the  party'  as  in  vogue  in  the  so-called  regular  Democracy 
embodied  in  the  Tammany  Hall  party.  This  organization  undertook  to  absorb 
us  when  we  had  grown  too  powerful  to  be  ignored.  They  nominated  a  legislative 
ticket  made  up  half  of  their  men  and  half  of  ours.  This  move  was  to  a  great  ex- 
tent successful  ;  but  many  of  us  who  were  purists  refused  to  compromise,  and  ran 
a  stump  ticket,  or,  as  it  was  then  called,  a  rump  ticket.  I  was  too  young  to  vote, 
but  I  remember  my  brother  George  and  I  posting  political  handbills  at  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning;  this  hour  was  not  so  inconvenient  for  us,  for  we  were 
bakers.  We  also  worked  hard  on  election  day,  keeping  up  and  supplying  the 
ticket  booths,  especially  in  our  own  ward,  the  old  Seventh.  I  remember  that 
one  of  our  leaders  was  a  shoemaker  named  John  Ryker,  and  that  we  used  to 
meet  in  Science  Hall,  Broome  Street. 

"  If  this  was  the  high  state  of  my  enthusiasm,  so  was  it  that  of  us  all.  Our 
political  faith  was  ardent  and  active.  But  if  we  had  been  tested  on  our  religious 
faith  we  should  not  have  come  off  creditably  ;  many  of  us  had  not  any  religion 
at  all.  I  remember  saying  once  to  my  brother  John  that  the  only  difference 
between  a  believer  and  an  infidel  is  a  few  ounces  of  brains.  .  .  .  We  were 
a  queer  set  of  cranks  when  Dr.  Brownson  brought  to  us  his  powerful  and  elo- 
quent advocacy,  his  contribution  of  mingled  truth  and  error.  He  delivered  his 
first  course  of  lectures  in  the  old  Stuyvesant  Institute  in  Broadway,  facing  Bond 
Street -the  same  hall  used  a  little  afterwards  by  the  Unitarian  Society  while 
they  were  building  a  church  for  Mr.  Dewey  in  Broadway  opposite  Eighth  Street, 
the  very  same  society  now  established  in  Lexington  Avenue,  with  Mr.  Collyer  as 
minister.  The  subsequent  courses  were  delivered  in  Clinton  Hall,  corner  of 
Nassau  and  Beekman,  the  site  now  occupied  by  one  of  our  modern  mammoth 
buildings.  I  forget  how  much  we  were  charged  admission,  except  that  a  ticket 
for  the  whole  course  cost  three  dollars.  There  was  no  great  rush,  but  the  lec- 
tures drew  well  and  abundantly  paid  all  expenses,  including  the  lecturer's  fee. 
The  press  did  not  take  much  notice  of  the  lectures,  for  the  Workingman's  party 
had  no  newspapers  expressly  in  its  favor,  except  the  one  I  have  already  quoted 
from.  But  he  was  one  of  the  few  men  whose  power  is  great  enough  to  adver- 
tise itself.  Wherever  he  was  he  was  felt.  His  tread  was  heavy  and  he  could 
make  way  for  himself. 

"  Dr.  Brownson  was  then  in  the  very  prime  of  manhood.     He  was  a  hand- 


20  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

some  man,  tall,  stately,  and  of  grave  manners.  His  face  was  clean-shaved. 
The  first  likeness  of  him  that  I  remember  appeared  in  the  Democratic  Review. 
It  made  him  look  like  Proudhon,  the  French  Socialist.  This  was  all  the  more 
singular  because  at  that  time  he  was  really  the  American  Proudhon,  though  he 
never  went  so  far  as  '  La  propriete,  e'est  le  vol.'1  As  he  appeared  on  the  platform 
and  received  our  greeting  he  was  indeed  a  majestic  man,  displaying  in  his  de- 
meanor the  power  of  a  mind  altogether  above  the  ordinary.  But  he  was  essen- 
tially a  philosopher,  and  that  means  that  he  could  never  be  what  is  called 
popular.  He  was  an  interesting  speaker,  but  he  never  sought  popularity.  He 
never  seemed  to  care  much  about  the  reception  his  words  received,  but  he  ex- 
hibited anxiety  to  get  his  thoughts  rightly  expressed  and  to  leave  no  doubt 
about  what  his  convictions  were.  Yet  among  a  limited  class  of  minds  he  always 
awakened  real  enthusiasm — among  minds,  that  is,  of  a  philosophical  tendency. 
He  never  used  manuscript  or  notes  ;  he  was  familiar  with  his  topic,  and  his 
thoughts  flowed  out  spontaneously  in  good,  pure,  strong,  forcible  English.  He 
could  control  any  reasonable  mind,  for  he  was  a  man  of  great  thoughts  and 
never  without  some  grand  truth  to  impart.  But  to  stir  the  emotions  was  not  in 
his  power,  though  he  sometimes  attempted  it ;  he  never  succeeded  in  being 
really  pathetic. 

"  It  must  be  remembered  that  although  Dr.  Brownson  was  technically 
classed  among  the  reverends,  he  was  not  commonly  so  called.  It  may  be  said 
that  he  was  still  reckoned  among  the  Unitarian  ministry,  owing  mostly  to  his 
connection  with  Dr.  Charming,  of  Boston,  who  took  a  great  interest  in  the 
Workingman's  party.  But  I  do-not  think  he  was  advertised  by  us  as  reverend 
or  publicly  spoken  of  as  a  clergyman.  He  may  have  been  yet  hanging  on  the 
skirts  of  the  Unitarian  movement.  But  his  career  had  become  political,  and  his 
errand  to  New  York  was  political.  He  had  given  up  preaching  for  some  years, 
and  embarked  on  the  stormy  waves  of  social  politics,  and  had  by  his  writings 
become  an  expositor  of  various  theories  of  social  reform,  chiefly  those  of  French 
origin.  So  that  the  dominant  note  of  his  lectures  was  not  by  any  means  re- 
ligious, but  political.  He  was  at  that  time  considered  as  identified  with  the 
Workingman's  party,  and  came  to  New  York  to  speak  as  one  of  our  leaders. 
The  general  trend  of  his  lectures  was  the  philosophy  of  history  as  it  bears  on 
questions  of  social  reform.  At  bottom  his  theories  were  Saint-Simonism,  the 
object  being  the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of  the  most  numerous  classes  of 
society  in  the  speediest  manner.  This  was  the  essence  of  our  kind  of  Democracy. 
And  Dr.  Brownson  undertook  in  these  lectures  to  bring  to  bear  in  favor  of  our 
purpose  the  life-lessons  of  the  providential  men  of  human  history.  Of  course, 
the  life  and  teachings  of  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  were  brought  into  use,  and 
the  upshot  of  the  lecturer's  thesis  was  that  Christ  was  the  big  Democrat  and  the 
Gospel  was  the  true  Democratic  platform  ! 

"  We  interpreted  Christianity  as  altogether  a  social  institution,  its  social 
side  entirely  overlapping  and  hiding  the  religious.  Dr.  Brownson  set  out  to 
make,  and  did  make,  a  powerful  presentation  of  our  Lord  as  the  representative 
of  the  Democratic  side  of  civilization.  For  His  person  and  office  he  and  all  of 
us  had  a  profound  appreciation  and  sympathy,  but  it  was  not  reverential  or  re- 
ligious; the  religious  side  of  Christ's  mission  was  ignored.  Christ  was  a  social 
Democrat,  Dr.  Brownson  maintained,  and  he  and  many  of  us  had  no  other  re- 
ligion but  the  social  theories  we  drew  from  Christ's  life  and  teaching  ;  that  was 
the  meaning  of  Christianity  to  us,  and  of  Protestantism  especially." 


Youth.  2 1 

In  penning  the  reminiscences  just  given  Father  Hecker  prob- 
ably had  in  mind  the  whole  period  lying  between  his  fourteenth 
year  and  his  twenty-first.  In  the  autumn  of  1834,  when  he  first 
made  acquaintance  with  Orestes  Brownson,  Isaac  Hecker  was  not 
yet  fifteen,  while  the  reform  lecturer  was  in  his  early  thirties. 
But  the  boy  who  began  at  once,  as  he  has  told  us,  to  put  philo- 
sophical questions,  and  to  seek  a  test  whereby  to  determine  the 
validity  of  his  mental  processes,  was  already  well  known  to  the 
voters  of  his  ward,  not  merely  as  an  overgrown  and  very  active 
lad,  always  on  hand  at  the  polling  booths,  and  ready  for  any 
work  which  might  be  entrusted  to  a  boy,  but  also  as  a  clear 
and  persuasive  speaker  on  various  topics  of  social  and  political 
reform. 

Politics  of  the  kind  into  which  the  young  Heckers  threw 
themselves  so  ardently  were  not  very  different  m  their  methods 
fifty  years  ago  from  what  they  are  to-day.  Reform  politics  are 
always  the  reverse  of  what  are  called  machine  politics.  The 
meetings  of  which  Father  Hecker  speaks  were  spontaneous  gath- 
erings of  determined  and  earnest  men,  young  and  old,  held 
sometimes  in  public  halls,  sometimes,  when  elections  were  close 
at  hand,  in  the  open  street.  Often  they  were  dominated  by 
leaders  better  able  to  formulate  theories  than  to  bring  about 
practical  remedial  measures.  The  inception  of  all  great  parties 
has  something  of  this  character.  It  generally  happens  that 
principles  are  dwelt  upon  with  an  exclusive  devotion  more  or 
less  prejudicial  to  immediate  practical  ends.  This  is  why  young 
men,  and  even  striplings,  provided  they  are  energetic  and  per- 
suasive, will  be  listened  to  with  attention  at  such  eras.  Men  are 
seeking  for  enlightenment,  and  hence  views  are  taken  for  what 
they  seem  to  be  worth  rather  than  out  of  respect  for  the  source 
they  spring  from.  Imagine,  then,  this  tall,  fair,  strong-faced  boy 
of  fourteen,  mounted,  perhaps,  on  one  of  his  own  flour -barrels, 
dogmatizing  the  principles  of  social  democracy,  posing  as  a 
spontaneous  political  reformer  before  a  crowded  street  full  of 
men  twice  and  thrice  hi:,  years,  but  bound  together  with  him  by 
the  sympathies  common  to  the  wage-earning  classes.  It  is  true 
that  Isaac  Hecker  and  his  brothers,  of  whom  the  eldest  had  but 
recently  attained  to  the  dignity  of  a  voter,  although  still  poor 
and  hard-working,  had  already,  by  virtue  of  sheer  industry  and 
pluck,  passed  over  to  the  class  of  wage-payers.  But  they  were 
not  less  ardent  reformers  after  than  before  that  transition.     Isaac, 


22 


The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


at  all  events,  was  consistent  and  unchanged  throughout  his  life 
in  the  political  principles  he  adopted  among  the  apprentices  and 
journeymen  of  New  York  over  half  a  century  ago.  There  was 
little  room  for  vulgar  self-conceit  in  a  nature  so  frank  and  sin- 
cere as  his.  What  he  had  to  learn,  as  well  as  what  he  had  to 
teach,  always  dwarfed  merely  personal  considerations  to  their 
narrowest  dimensions  in  his  mind.  Hence  his  impulsive  candor, 
the  clearness  of  his  views,  and  the  straightforward  simplicity  of 
his  speech  at  once  attracted  notice,  and  although  so  young,  he 
went  speedily  to  the  front  in  the  local  management  of  his  party. 
In  the  article  already  quoted  from,  he  tells  us  that  after  1834 
the  managers  left  all  future  engagements  of  lecturers  to  his 
brother  John  and  himself.  It  was  doubtless  this  fact  which  led 
directly  to  that  lasting  and  fruitful  intimacy  with  Dr.  Brownson 
which  then  began.  His  was  the  strongest  purely  human  influ- 
ence, if  we  except  his  mother's,  which  Isaac  Hecker  ever  knew. 
And  these  two  were  on  planes  so  different  that  it  is  hardly  fair 
to  compare  them  with  each  other. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   TURNING-POINT. 

A  BRIEF  consideration  at  this  point  of  a  certain  permanent  ten- 
dency of  Father  Hecker's  mind  will  be  of  present  and  future 
value  to  the  student  of  his  life.  It  has  been  said  already  that  he 
never  changed  the  principles  he  had  adopted  as  a  lad  among  the 
apprentices  and  journeymen  of  New  York;  principles  which,  for 
all  social  politics,  he  summarized  in  the  homely  expression,  "  I  am 
always  for  the  under  dog."  Thus,  in  the  article  quoted  in  the 
preceding  chapter,  he  had  the  right  to  say  of  himself  and  his 
associates  : 

"  We  were  guileless  men  absorbed  in  seeking  a  solution  for 
the  problems  of  life.  Nor,  as  social  reformers  at  least,  were  we 
given  over  to  theories  altogether  wrong.  The  constant  recurrence 
of  similar  epochs  of  social  agitation  since  then,  and  the  present 
enormous  development  of  the  monopolies  which  we  resisted  in 
their  very  infancy,  show  that  our  forecast  of  the  future  was  not 
wholly  visionary.  The  ominous  outlook  of  popular  politics  at  the 
present  moment  plainly  shows  that  legislation  such  as  we  then 
proposed,  and  such  as  was  then  within  the  easy  reach  of  State 
and  national  authority,  would  have  forestalled  difficulties  whose 
settlement  at  this  day  threatens  a  dangerous  disturbance  of  pub- 
lic order." 

We  dwell  on  his    political  consistency,  however,   only  because 
it  affords  an  evidence  of  that  unity  of  character  which  was  always 
recognizee!    in    Father    Hecker    by    those    who    knew    him    best. 
Change    in    him,    in    whatever    direction    it    seemed    to    proceed,  j 
meant    primarily    the    dropping    off    of    accidental    excrescences. 
There  was    nothing    radical    in    it.     What  he  once  held  with  theJ 
settled  allegiance  of  his  intelligence  he  held  always,  adding  to  or 
developing    it    further  as    fast    as    the    clouds  were    blown    away 
from  his  mental  horizon.       From    the  standpoint  of  personal   ex- 
perience he  could  fairly  criticise,   as  he  did  in  conversation  some 
few  years  before  his  death,  Cardinal  Newman's  dictum  that  "con- 
version is  a  leap  in    the    dark."       "  I  say,"  he  went  on,   "  that  it 
is  a  leap   in  the  light."      "  Into  the  light,  but  through  the  dark," 
was  suggested  in  reply. 

"  No,;;   he  answered.      "  If  one  arrives  at  a  recognition  of  the 

23 


24  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

truth  of  Catholic  doctrine  through  one  or  other  form  of  Protestant 
orthodoxy,  then  the  difficulties  of  ordinary  controversy  will  indeed 
leave  him  to  the  very  end  in  the  dark.  But  if  he  comes  to  the 
Church  through  the  working  and  the  results  of  natural  reason, 
it  is  light  all  the  way,  and  to  the  very  end.  I  had  this  out 
with  Cardinal  Newman  personally,  and  he  agreed  that  I  was 
right." 

It  is  true  that  his  views  were  rectified  when  he  entered  the 
Church,  and  that  when  once  in  it  he  was  ever  acquiring  new 
truth  and  new  views  of  truth.  But  his  character  never  changed. 
He  was  a  luminous  example  of  the  truth  of  the  saying  that  the 
child  is  father  to  the  man,  so  often  apparently  falsified  by  expe- 
rience. Boy  and  man,  the  prominent  characteristic  of  his  mind 
was  a  clear  perception  of  fundamentals  and  a  disregard  of  non- 
essentials in  the  whole  domain  of  life.  To  reverse  a  familiar 
maxim,  "  Take  care  of  the  dollars  and  the  cents  will  take  care 
of  themselves,"  might  describe  his  plan  of  mental  economy.  To 
the  small  coin  of  discussion  in  any  field  of  inquiry  he  paid  little 
attention.  One  who  knew  him  many  years  has  often  heard  him 
say,   "  Emphasize  the  universal  always." 

He  was  a  teacher  by  natural  vocation.  No  sooner  was  he 
satisfied  that  he  knew  anything  of  general  moment  than  he  felt 
pressed  to  impart  his  knowledge.  Contact  with  him  could  never 
be  simply  for  acquaintance'  sake  ;  still  less  for  an  idle  compari- 
son of  views.  While  no  man  could  be  more  frank  in  the  ad- 
mission of  a  lack  of  data  on  which  to  base  an  opinion  in  matters 
of  fact,  or  a  lack  of  illumination  on  affairs  of  conduct  or  prac- 
tical direction,  when  such  existed,  yet  to  be  certain  was,  to 
him,  the  self-luminous  guarantee  of  his  mission  to  instruct.  But 
until  that  certainty  was  attained,  in  a  manner  satisfactory  to 
both  the  intellectual  and  the  ethical  sides  of  his  nature,  he  was 
silent. 

As  a  priest,  though  he  undertook  to  teach  anybody  and 
everybody,  yet  he  could  seldom  have  given  the  impression  of  de- 
siring to  impose  his  personal  views,  simply  as  such.  His  vital 
perception  that  there  can  be  nothing  private  in  truth  shone 
through  his  speech  too  plainly  for  so  gross  a  misconception  to 
be  easily  made  by  candid  minds.  The  fact  is  that  the  commu- 
nity of  spiritual  goods  was  vividly  realized  by  him,  and  in  good 
faith  he  credited  all  men  with  a  longing  like  his  own  to  see 
things  as  they  really  are.       As  he  had    by  nature    a  very  kindly 


The    Turning- Point.  25 


manner,  benignant  and  cheerful,  the  average  man  readily  sub- 
mitted to  his  influence.  In  his  prime  he  was  always  a  most  suc- 
cessful and  popular  preacher  and  lecturer,  from  the  combined 
effect  of  this  earnestness  of  conviction  and  his  personal  magnetic 
quality.  Men  whose  mental  characteristics  resembled  his  became, 
soon  or  late,  his  enthusiastic  disciples,  and  as  to  others,  although 
at  first  some  were  inclined  to  suspect  him,  many  of  them  ended 
by  becoming  his  warm  friends. 

It  is  in  this  light  that  we  must  view  the  precocious  efforts  of 
the  young  politician.  Nothing  was  further  from  his  thoughts  at 
any  time  than  to  employ  politics  as  a  means  to  any  private  end. 
Although  we  have  already  quoted  him  as  saying  that  he  always 
felt  bound  to  demand  some  good  reason  why  he  should  not  use 
all  things  lawfully  his,  and  enjoy  to  the  full  every  innocent  plea- 
sure, yet  that  demand  was  made  solely  in  the  interests  of  human 
freedom,  never  in  that  of  self-indulgence.  He  seems  to  have 
been  ascetic  by  nature — a  Stoic,  not  an  Epicurean,  by  the  very 
make-up  of  his  personality.  The  reader  will  see  this  more  clearly 
as  we  pass  on  to  the  succeeding  phases  of  Father  Hecker's 
interior  life.  But  we  cannot  leave  the  statement  even  here  with- 
out explaining  that  we  use  the  word  ascetic  in  its  proper  sense, 
to  connote  the  rightful  dominance  of  reason  over  appetite,  the 
supremacy  of  the  higher  over  the  lower;  not  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  judge  over  the  criminal.  In  his  case,  during  the  greater  part 
of  his  life,  the  adjustment  of  the  higher  and  lower,  the  restraint 
he  placed  upon  the  beast  in  view  of  the  elevation  due  to  the 
man,  was  neither  conceived  nor  felt  as  punitive.  We  shall  see 
later  on  how  God  finally  subjected  him  to  a  discipline  so  cor- 
rective as  to  be  acknowledged  by  him  as  judicial. 

Isaac  Hecker  threw  himself  into  public  questions,  then,  because, 
being  a  workman,  he  believed  he  saw  ways  by  which  the  work- 
ing classes  might  be  morally  and  socially  elevated.  He  wanted 
for  his  class  what  he  wanted  for  himself.  To  get  his  views  into 
shape,  to  press  them  with  all  his  force  whenever  and  wherever 
an  opportunity  presented  itself,  was  for  him  the  inescapable  con- 
sequence of  that  belief.  Like  his  great  patron,  St.  Paul,  "  What 
wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do  ?  "  was  always  his  first  question  after 
his  own  illumination  had  been  granted.  There  is  a  note  in  the 
collection  of  private  memoranda  that  has  been  preserved,  in  which, 
alluding  to  the  painful  struggles  which  preceded  his  clear  recog- 
nition   that   the    doctrines    of   the    Catholic    Church    afforded    the 


26  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

adequate  solution  of  all  his  difficulties,  he  says  that  his  interior 
sufferings  were  so  great  that  the  question  with  him  was  "whether 
I  should  drown  myself  in  the  river  or  drown  my  longings  and 
doubts  in  a  career  of  wild  ambition."  Still,  to  those  who  knew 
him  well,  it  is  impossible  to  think  of  him  as  ever  capable  of  any 
ambition  which  had  not  an  end  commensurate  with  mankind 
itself.  To  elevate  men,  to  go  up  with  them,  not  above  them, 
was,  from  first  to  last,  the  scope  of  his  desire.  The  nature  of  his 
surroundings  in  youth,  his  personal  experience  of  the  hardships  of 
the  poorer  classes,  his  intercourse  with  radical  socialists,  together 
with  the  incomplete  character  of  the  religious  training  given  him, 
made  him  at  first  look  on  politics  as  a  possible  and  probable 
means  to  this  desirable  end.  But  he  was  too  sensibly  impelled 
by  the  Divine  impulse  toward  personal  perfection,  and  too  inflex- 
ibly honest  with  himself,  not  to  come  early  to  a  thorough  realiza- 
tion, on  one  hand  of  the  fact  that  man  cannot,  unaided,  rise  above 
his  natural  level,  and,  on  the  other,  that  no  conceivable  ameliora- 
tion of  merely  social  conditions  could  satisfy  his  aspirations.  And 
if  not  his,  how  those  of  other  men  ? 

One  thing  that  becomes  evident  in  studying  this  period  of 
Isaac  Hecker's  life  is  the  fact  that  his  acquaintance  with  Dr. 
Brownson  marks  a  turning-point  in  his  views,  his  opinions,  his 
whole  attitude  of  mind  toward  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Until  then 
the  Saviour  of  men  had  been  represented  to  him  exclusively  as  a 
remedy  against  the  fear  of  hell;  His  use  seemed  to  be  to  furnish 
a  Divine  point  to  which  men  might  work  themselves  up  by  an 
emotional  process  resulting  in  an  assurance  of  forgiveness  of  sin 
and  a  secure  hope  of  heaven.  Christianity,  that  is  to  say,  had 
been  presented  to  him  under  the  form  of  Methodism.  The  result 
had  been  what  might  have  been  anticipated  in  a  nature  so 
averse  to  emotional  excitement  and  possessing  so  little  conscious- 
ness of  actual  sin.  Drawn  to  God  as  he  had  always  been  by 
love  and  aspiration,  he  was  not  as  yet  sensible  of  any  gulf  which 
needed  to  be  bridged  between  him  and  his  Creator;  hence,  to 
present  Christ  solely  as  the  Victim,  the  Expiatory  Sacrifice  de- 
manded by  Divine  Justice,  was  to  make  Him,  if  not  impossible, 
yet  premature  to  a  person  like  him.  Meantime,  what  he  saw  and 
heard  all  around  him,  poverty,  inequality,  greed,  shiftlessness,  low 
views  of  life,  ceaseless  and  poorly  remunerated  toil,  made  inces- 
sant demands  upon  him.  These  things  he  knew  by  actual  con- 
tact, by  physical,  mental,  and  moral  experience,  as  a  man  knows 


The    Turning- Point.  27 


by  touch  and  taste  and  smell.  Men's  sufferings,  longings, 
struggles,  disappointments  had  been  early  thrust  upen  him  as  a 
personal  and  most  weighty  burden  ;  and  the  only  relief  yet 
offered  was  the  Christ  of  emotional  Methodism.  To  a  nature 
more  open  to  temptation  on  its  lower  side,  and  hence  more  con- 
scious of  its  radical  limitations,  even  this  defective  presentation 
of  the  Redeemer  of  men  might  have  appealed  profoundly.  But 
Isaac  Hecker's  problems  were  at  this  time  mainly  social ;  as, 
indeed,  to  use  the  word  in  a  large  sense,  they  remained  until  the 
end.  Now,  Protestantism  is  essentially  unsocial,  being  an  extrav- 
agant form  of  individualism.  Its  Christ  deals  with  men  apart 
from  each  other  and  furnishes  no  cohesive  element  to  humanity. 
The  validity  and  necessity  of  religious  organization  as  a  moral 
force  of  Divine  appointment  is  that  one  of  the  Catholic  principles 
which  it  has  from  the  beginning  most  vehemently  rejected.  As  a 
negative  force  its  essence  is  a  protest  against  organic  Christianity. 
As  a  positive  force  it  is  simply  men,  taken  one  by  one,  dealing 
separately  with  God  concerning  matters  strictly  personal.  True,  it 
is  a  fundamental  verity  that  men  must  deal  individually  with 
God;  but  the  external  test  that  their  dealings  with  Him  havei 
been  efficacious,  and  their  inspirations  valid,  is  furnished  by  the 
fact  of  their  incorporation  into  the  organic  life  of  Christendom. 
As  St.  Paul  expresses  it :  "  For  as  the  body  is  one,  and  hath 
many  members ;  and  all  the  members  of  the  body,  whereas  they 
are  many,  are  yet  one  body,  so  also  is  Christ.  For  in  one  Spirit 
were  we  all  baptized  into  one  body,  whether  Jews  or  Gentiles, 
whether  bond  or  free,  and  in  one  Spirit  have  we  all  been  made 
to  drink."* 

It  is  plain,  then,  that  a  religion  such  as  Protestantism,  which 
is  unsocial  and  disintegrating  by  virtue  of  its  antagonistic  forces, 
can  contribute  little  to  the  solution  of  social  problems.  Even 
when  not  actively  rejected  by  men  deeply  interested  in  such 
problems,  it  is  tolerably  sure  that  it  will  be  practically  ignored 
as  a  working  factor  in  their  public  relations  with  their  fellows. 
Religion  will  remain  the  narrowly  personal  matter  it  began ;  _ 
chiefly  an  affair  for  Sundays  ;  best  attended  to  in  one's  pew  in 
church  or  at  the  family  altar.  Probably  it  may  reach  the  shop, 
the  counter,  and  the  scales ;  not  so  certainly  the  factory,  the 
mine,  the  political  platform,  and  the  ballot.  If  Christianity  had 
never  presented  itself  under  any  other   aspect    than    this  to  Isaac 

*  1  Cor.  xii.  12, 13. 


28  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

Hecker,  it  is  certain  that  it  would  never  have  obtained  his  alle- 
giance. Yet  it  is  equally  certain  that  he  never  rejected  Christ 
under  any  aspect  in  which   He  was  presented  to  him. 

Even  concerning  the  period  of  his  life  with  which  we  are  now 
engaged,  and  in  which  we  have  already  represented  him  as  having 
lost  hold  of  all  distinctively  Christian  doctrines,  we  must  empha- 
size the  precise  words  we  have  employed.  He  "  lost  hold  "  ;  that 
was  because  his  original  grasp  was  weak.  While  no  authoritative 
dogmatic  teaching  had  given  him  an  even  approximately  full 
and  definite  idea  of  the  God-man,  His  personality,  His  character, 
and  His  mission,  the  fragmentary  truths  offered  him  had  made 
His  influence  seem  restrictive  rather  than  liberative  of  human 
energies.  Yet  even  so  he  had  not  deliberately  turned  his  back 
upon  Him,  though  his  tendency  at  this  time  was  doubtless  toward 
simple  Theism.  He  had  begun  to  ignore  Christianity,  simply  be- 
cause his  own  problems  were  dominantly  social,  and  orthodox 
Protestantism,  the  only  form  of  religion  which  he  knew,  had  no 
social  force  corresponding  to  its  pretensions  and   demands. 

Now,  upon  this  state  of  mind  the  teaching  of  Dr.  Brownson 
came  like  seed  upon  a  fallow  soil.  Like  that  which  preceded  it, 
it  erred  rather  by  defect  than  by  actual  or,  at  any  rate,  by  wil- 
ful deviation  from  true  doctrine.  Isaac  Hecker  met  for  the  first 
time  in  Orestes  Brownson  an  exponent  of  Jesus  Christ  as  the 
"  great  Benefactor  and  Uplifter  of  the  human  race  in  this  present 
life.  Dr.  Brownson  has  himself  given  a  statement  of  the  views 
which  he  held  and  inculcated  between  1834  and  1843 — which  in- 
cludes the  period  we  are  at  present  considering — and  it  is  so  brief 
and    to    the    point    that  we    cannot    do    better  than  to  quote  it  : 

"I  found  in  me,"  he  writes  {The  Convert,  p.  in),  "certain 
religious  sentiments  that  I  could  not  efface ;  certain  religious 
beliefs  or  tendencies,  of  which  I  could  not  divest  myself.  I  re- 
garded them  as  a  law  of  my  nature,  as  natural  to  man,  as  the 
noblest  part  of  our  nature,  and  as  such  I  cherished  them  ;  but  as 
the  expression  in  vie  of  an  objective  world,  I  seldom  pondered  them. 
1  found  them  universal,  manifesting  themselves,  in  some  form, 
wherever  man  is  found  ;  but  I  received  them,  or  supposed  I  received 
them,  on  the  authority  of  humanity  or  human  nature,  and  pro- 
fessed to  hold  no  religion  except  that  of  humanity.  I  had  become 
a  believer  in  humanity,  and  put  humanity  in  the  place  of  God. 
The  only  God  I  recognized  was  the  divine  in  man,  the  divinity 
of  humanity,  one  alike  with  God  and  with  man,  which  I  sup- 
posed to  be  the    real  meaning   of   the    Christian    doctrine    of   the 


The    Turning- Point.  29 


Incarnation,  the  mystery  of  Emmanuel,  or  God  with  us — God 
manifest  in  the  flesh.  There  may  be  an  unmanifested  God,  and 
certainly  is  ;  but  the  only  God  who  exists  for  us  is  the  God  in 
man,   the  active  and  living  principle  of  human  nature. 

"  I  regarded  Jesus  Christ  as  divine  in  the  sense  in  which  all 
men  are  divine,  and  human  in  the  sense  in  which  all  men  are 
human.  I  took  him  as  my  model  man,  and  regarded  him  as  a 
moral  and  social  reformer,  who  sought,  by  teaching  the  truth 
under  a  religious  envelope,  and  practising  the  highest  and  purest 
morality,  to  meliorate  the  earthly  condition  of  mankind ;  but  I 
saw  nothing  miraculous  in  his  conception  or  birth,  nothing  super- 
natural in  his  person  or  character,  in  his  life  or  doctrine.  He 
came  to  redeem  the  world,  as  does  every  great  and  good  man, 
and  deserved  to  be  held  in  universal  honor  and  esteem  as  one 
who  remained  firm  to  the  truth  amid  every  trial,  and  finally  died 
on  the  cross,  a  martyr  to  his  love  of  mankind.  As  a  social  re- 
former, as  one  devoted  to  the  progress  and  well-being  of  man  in 
this  world,  I  thought  I  might  liken  myself  to  him  and  call  my- 
self by  his  name.  I  called  myself  a  Christian,  not  because  I 
took  him  for  my  master,  not  because  I  believed  all  he  believed 
or  taught,  but  because,  like  him,  I  was  laboring  to  introduce  a 
new  order  of  things,  and  to  promote  the  happiness  of  my  kind. 
I  used  the  Bible  as  a  good  Protestant,  took  what  could  be  accom- 
modated to  my  purpose,  and  passed  over  the  rest,  as  belonging 
to  an  age  now  happily  outgrown.  I  followed  the  example  of  the 
carnal  Jews,  and  gave  an  earthly  sense  to  all  the  promises  and 
prophecies  of  the  Messias,  and  looked  for  my  reward  in  this 
world." 

The  passages  we  have  italicized  in  this  extract  may  go  to 
show  how  far  Dr.  Brownson  himself  was,  at  this  period,  from  being 
able  to  give  any  but  the  evasive  answer  he  actually  did  give  to 
the  searching  philosophical  questions  put  by  his  youthful  admirer. 
But  it  is  not  easy,  especially  in  the  light  of  Isaac  Hecker's  sub- 
sequent experiences,  to  overestimate  the  influence  which  this  new 
presentation  of  our  Saviour  had  upon  the  development  of  his  mind 
and  character.  For  reasons  which  we  have  tried  to  indicate  by 
a  brief  description  of  some  of  his  life-long  interior  traits,  the 
ordinary  Protestant  view,  restricted  and  narrow,  which  represents 
Jesus  Christ  merely  as  the  appointed  though  voluntary  Victim  of 
the  Divine  wrath  against  sin,  had  been  pressed  upon  him  pre- 
maturely. Now  He  was  held  up  to  him,  and  by  a  man  who  was 
in  many  ways  superior  to  all  other  men  the  boy  had  met,  as  a 
great  personality,  altogether  human,  indeed,  but  still  the  most 
perfect  specimen  of  the  race  ;   the  supremely  worshipful  figure   of 


30  The  Life  of  FatJicr  Hecker. 

all  history,  whose  life  had  been  given  to  the  assertion  of  the 
dignity  of  man  and  the  equality  of  mankind.  That  human  nature 
is  good  and  that  men  are  brethren,  said  Dr.  Brownson,  was  the 
thesis  of  Christ,  taught  throughout  His  life,  sealed  by  His  death. 
The  Name  which  is  above  all  names  became  thus  in  a  new  sense 
a  watchword,  and  the  Gospels  a  treasury  for  that  social  apostolate 
to  which  Isaac  Hecker  had  already  devoted  himself  with  an  ear- 
nestness which  for  some  years  made  it  seem  religion  enough 
for  him. 

So  it  has  seemed  before  his  time  and  since  to  many  a  benev- 
olent dreamer.  Though  the  rites  of  the  humanitarian  cult  differ 
with  its  different  priests,  its  creed  retains  everywhere  and  always 
its  narrow  identity.  But  that  all  men  are  good,  or  would  be  so 
save  for  the  unequal  pressure  of  social  conditions  on  them,  is  a 
conclusion  which  does  not  follow  from  the  single  premise  that 
human  nature,  inasmuch  as  it  is  a  nature  and  from  the  hand  of 
God,  is  essentially  good.  The  world  is  flooded,  just  at  present, 
with  schemes  for  insuring  the  perfection  and  happiness  of  men 
by  removing  so  far  as  possible  all  restraints  upon  their  natural 
freedom  ;  and  whether  this  is  to  be  accomplished  with  Tolstoi,  by 
reducing  wants  to  a  minimum  and  abolishing  money  ;  or  by  estab- 
lishing clubs  for  the  promotion  of  culture  and  organizing  a  social 
army  which  shall  destroy  poverty  by  making  money  plenty,  ap- 
pears a  mere  matter  of  detail — at  all  events  to  dreamers  and  to 
novelists.  But  to  men  who  are  in  hard  earnest  with  themselves, 
men  who  "have  not  taken  their  souls  in  vain  nor  sworn  deceit- 
fully," either  to  their  neighbor  or  about  him,  certain  other  truths 
concerning  human  nature  besides  that  of  its  essential  goodness 
are  sure  to  make  themselves  evident,  soon  or  late.  And  among 
these  is  that  of  its  radical  insufficiency  to  its  own  needs.  It  is  a 
rational  nature,  and  it  seeks  the  Supreme  Reason,  if  only  fur  its 
own  self-explication.  It  is  a  nature  which,  wherever  found,  is 
found  in  the  attitude  of  adoration,  and  neither  in  the  individual 
man  nor  in  humanity  at  large  is  there  any  Divinity  which 
responds  to  worship. 

It  is  impossible  to  say  just  when  Isaac  Hecker's  appreciation 
of  this  truth  became  intensely  personal  and  clear,  but  it  is  easy 
to  make  a  tolerable  approximation  to  the  time.  He  went  to 
Brook  Farm  in  January,  1843,  rather  more  than  eight  years  after 
his  first  meeting  with  Dr.  Brownson.  It  was  by  the  advice  of 
the  latter  that  he  made  this  first  decisive  break  from   his    former 


The    Turning- Point.  3 1 


life.  From  the  time  when  their  acquaintance  began,  Isaac  appears 
to  have  taken  up  the  study  of  philosophy  in  good  earnest,  and 
to  have  found  in  it  an  outlet  for  his  energies  which  insensibly 
diminished  his  absorption  in  social  politics.  We  have  a  glimpse 
of  him  kneading  at  the  dough-trough  with  Kant's  Critique  of 
Pure  Reason  fastened  up  on  the  wall  before  him,  so  that  he 
might  lose  no  time  in  merely  manual  labor.  Fichte  and  Hegel 
succeeded  Kant,  all  of  them  philosophers  whose  mother-tongue 
was  likewise  his  own,  and  whose  combined  influence  put  him 
farther  off  than  ever  from  the  solution  of  that  fundamental  doubt 
which  constantly  grew  more  perplexing  and  more  painful.  We 
find  him  hiring  a  seat  in  the  Unitarian  Church  of  the  Messiah, 
where  Orville  Dewey  was  then  preaching,  and  walking  every 
Sunday  a  distance  of  three  miles  from  the  foot  of  Rutgers 
Street,  "  because  he  was  a  smart  fellow,  and  I  enjoyed  listening 
to  him.  Did  I  believe  in  Unitarianism  ?  No  /  I  believed  in 
no  tiling." 

His  active  participation  in  local  politics  did  not  continue 
throughout  all  these  years.  His  belief  in  candidates  and  parties 
as  instruments  to  be  relied  on  for  social  purification  received  a 
final  blow  very  early — possibly  before  he  was  entitled  to  cast  a 
vote.  The  Workingmen  had  made  a  strong  ticket  one  year,  and 
there  seemed  every  probability  of  their  carrying  it.  But  on  the 
eve  of  the  election  half  of  their  candidates  sold  out  to  one  of 
the  opposing  parties.  What  other  results  this  treachery  may 
have  had  is  a  question  which,  fortunately,  does  not  concern  us, 
but  it  dispelled  one  of  the  strongest  of  Isaac  Hecker's  youthful 
illusions.  He  continued,  nevertheless,  to  prove  the  sincerity  with 
which  his  views  on  social  questions  were  held,  by  doing  all  that 
lay  in  his  power  to  better  the  condition  of  the  men  in  the 
employment  of  his  brothers  and  himself.  After  he  passed  his 
majority  his  interest  in  the  business  declined  rapidly,  and  it  is 
impossible  to  doubt  that  one  of  the  chief  reasons  why  it  did  so 
is  to  be  sought  in  his  changing  convictions  as  to  the  manner  in 
which  business  in  general   should  be  carried  on. 

Although  in  accepting  Christ  as  his  master  and  model  he 
had  as  yet  no  belief  in  Him  as  more  than  the  most  perfect  of 
human  beings,  yet,  even  so,  Isaac  Hecker's  sincerity  and  sim- 
plicity were  too  great  to  permit  him  to  follow  his  leader  at  a 
purely  conventional  distance.  "  Do  you  know,"  he  said  long 
afterwards,  "  the  thought    that    first   loosened    me  from  the  life   I 


32  1 he  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

led  ?  How  can  I  love  my  fellow-men  and  yet  get  rich  by  the 
sweat  of  their  brows  ?  I  couldn't  do  it.  You  are  not  a  Christian, 
and  can't  call  yourself  one,  I  said  to  myself,  if  you  do  that. 
The  heathenish  selfishness  of  business  competition  started  me 
away  from  the  world." 

If  he  had  received  a  Catholic  training,  Isaac  Hecker  would 
soon  have  recognized  that  he  was  being  drawn  toward  the 
practice  of  that  counsel  of  perfection  which  St.  Paul  embodies 
to  St.  Timothy  in  the  words  :  "  Having  food  and  wherewith 
to  be  covered,  with  these  we  are  content."*  Could  he  have 
sought  at  this  time  the  advice  of  one  familiar  with  internal  ways, 
he  must  have  been  cautioned  against  that  first  error  to  which 
those  so  drawn  are  liable,  of  supposing  that  this  call  is  common 
and  imperative,  and  can  never  fail  to  be  heard  without  some 
more  or  less  wilful  closing  of  the  ears.  Though  the  Hecker 
brothers  were,  and  ever  continued  to  be,  men  of  the  highest 
business  integrity,  and  though  there  existed  between  them  a 
cordial  affection,  which  was  intensified  to  an  extraordinary  degree 
in  the  case  of  George  and  Isaac,  yet  the  unfitness  of  the  latter 
for  ordinary  trade  grew  increasingly  evident,  and  to  himself  pain- 
fully so.  The  truth  is,  that  his  ideas  of  conducting  business 
would  have  led  to  the  distribution  of  profits  rather  than  to  their 
accumulation.  If  he  could  make  the  bake-house  and  the  shop 
into  a  school  for  the  attainment  of  an  ideal  that  had  begun  to 
hover,  half-veiled,  in  the  air  above  him,  he  saw  his  way  to  stay- 
ing where  he  was  ;  but  not  otherwise. 

In  the  autumn  of  1842  there  came  upon  him  certain  singular 
intensifications  of  this  disquiet  with  himself  and  his  surround- 
ings. In  the  journal  begun  the  following  spring,  he  so  frequently 
and  so  explicitly  refers  to  these  occurrences,  now  speaking  of 
them  as  "  dreams  which  had  a  great  effect  upon  my  character  "; 
and  again,  specializing  and  fully  describing  one,  as  something  not 
dreamed,  but  seen  when  awake,  "  which  left  an  indelible  impress 
on  my  mind,"  weaning  it  at  once  and  for  ever  from  all  possi- 
bility of  natural  love  and  marriage,  that  the  integrity  of  any 
narrative  of  his  life  would  demand  some  recognition  of  them. 
His  own  comment,  in  the  diary,  will  not  be  without  interest  and 
value,  both  as  bearing  on  much  that  follows,  and  as  containing 
all  that  need  be  said  in  explanation  of  the  present  reference  to 
such   experiences : 

*  1  Timothy  vi.  8. 


The    Turning- Point.  33 


"April 24,  1843. —  .  .  .  How  can  I  doubt  these  things  ?  Say 
what  may  be  said,  still  they  have  to  me  a  reality,  a  practical 
good  bearing  on  my  life.  They  are  impressive  instructors,  whose 
teachings  are  given  in  such  a  real  manner  that  they  influence 
me  whether  I  would  or  not.  Real  pictures  of  the  future,  as 
actual,  nay,  more  so  than  my  present  activity.  If  I  should  not 
follow  them  I  am  altogether  to  blame.  I  can  have  no  such 
adviser  upon  earth  ;  none  could  impress  me  so  strongly,  with 
such  peculiar  effect,  and  at  the  precise  time  most  needed.  Where 
my  natural  strength  is  not  enough,  I  find  there  comes  foreign 
aid  to  my  assistance.  Is  the  Lord  instructing  me  for  anything  ? 
I  had,  six  months  ago,  three  or  more  dreams  which  had  a  very 
great  effect  upon  my  character  ;  they  changed  it.  They  were 
the  embodiment  of  my  present  in  a  great  degree.  Last  evening's 
was  a  warning  embodiment  of  a  false  activity  and  its  con- 
sequence, which  will  preserve  me,  under  God's  assistance,  from 
falling.  ...  I  see  by  it  where  I  am  ;  it  has  made  me 
purer." 

In  addition  to  these  peculiar  visitations,  and  very  probably 
in  consequence  of  them,  Isaac's  inward  anxieties  culminated  in 
prolonged  fits  of  nervous  depression,  and  at  last  in  repeated 
attacks  of  illness  which  baffled  the  medical  skill  called  to  his 
assistance.  Towards  Christmas  he  went  to  Chelsea  to  visit 
Brownson,  to  whom  he  partially  revealed  the  state  of  obscurity 
and  distress  in  which  he  found  himself.  Brownson,  who  had  been 
one  of  the  original  promoters  of  the  experiment  in  practical 
sociology  at  West  Roxbury,  advised  a  residence  at  Brook  Farm 
as  likely  to  afford  the  young  man  the  leisure  and  opportunities  for 
study  which  he  needed  in  order  to  come  to  a  full  understand- 
ing with  himself.  He  wrote  to  George  Ripley  in  his  behalf,  and 
later  undertook  to  reconcile  the  Hecker  household  with  Isaac's 
determination   to    go   thither. 

It  was  during  his  stay  at  Chelsea  that  Isaac  first  began  plainly 
to  acquaint  his  family  with  the  fact  that  his  departure  meant 
something  more  important  than  the  moderately  prolonged  change 
of  scene  and  circumstances  which  they  had  recognized  as  essen- 
tial to  his  health.  We  shall  make  abundant  extracts  from  the 
letters  which  begin  at  this  date,  convinced  that  his  own  words 
will  not  only  afford  the  best  evidence  of  the  strength  of  the 
interior  pressure  on  him,  but  will  show  also  its  unique  and  con- 
stant bent. 


34  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


Our  purpose  is  to  show,  in  the  most  explicit  manner  possible, 
first,  how  irresistibly  he  was  impelled  toward  the  celibate  life 
!  and  the  practice  of  poverty  ;  and  second,  that  in  yielding  to  this 
impulse,  he  was  also  drawn  away  from  his  former  view  of  our 
Saviour,  as  simply  the  perfect  man,  to  the  full  acceptance  of  the 
supernatural  truth  that  He  is  the  Incarnate  God. 

It  is  at  this  period  of  Father  Hecker's  life  that  we  first  meet 
with  a  positive  interference  of  an  extraordinary  kind  in  the  plans 
and  purposes  of  his  life.  Many  men  who  have  outlived  them, 
and  settled  down  into  respectable  but  in  nowise  notable  members 
of  society,  have  felt  vague  longings  and  indefinite  aspirations 
toward  a  good  beyond  nature  during  the  "  Storm  and  Stress  " 
period  of  their  youth.  The  record  of  their  mental  struggles  gets 
into  literature  with  comparative  frequency,  and  sometimes  becomes 
famous.  It  has  always  a  certain  value,  if  merely  as  contributing 
to  psychological  science ;  but  in  any  particular  instance  is  of 
passing  interest  only,  unless  it  can  be  shown  to  have  been  instru- 
mental in  shaping  the  subsequent  career.  The  latter  was  the 
case  with  Father  Hecker.  The  extraordinary  influences  already 
mentioned  continued  to  dominate  his  intelligence  and  his  will, 
sometimes  with,  oftener  without,  explicit  assignment  of  any  cause. 
It  is  plain  enough  that,  up  to  the  time  when  they  began,  he 
had  looked  forward  to  such  a  future  of  domestic  happiness  as 
honest  young  fellows  in  his  position  commonly  desire.  "  He 
was  the  life  of  the  family  circle,"  says  one  who  knew  the  Hecker 
household  intimately ;  "  he  loved  his  people,  and  was  loved  by 
them  with  great  intensity,  and  his  going  away  must  have  been 
most  painful  to  him  as  well  as  to  them." 

On  this  point  the  memoranda,  so  often  to  be  referred  to,  con- 
tain some  words  of  his  own  to  the  same  purport.  They  were 
spoken  early  in  1882:  "You  know  I  had  to  leave  my  business — 
a  good  business  it  was  getting  to  be,  too.  I  tell  you,  it  was 
agony  to  give  everything  up — friends,  prospects  in  life  and  old 
associates ;  things  for  which  by  nature  I  had  a  very  strong 
attachment.  But  I  could  not  help  it  ;  I  was  driven  from  it.  I 
wanted  something  more ;  something  I  had  not  been  able  to  find. 
Yet  I  did  not  know  what  I  wanted.  I  was  simply  in  tor- 
ment." 

The  truth  is  that,  while  he  had  always  cherished  ideals  higher 
than  are  usual,  still  they  were  not  such  as  need  set  him  apart 
from  the  common    life    of  men.       But    now  he   became    suddenly 


The    Turning-Point. 


35 


averse  from  certain  pursuits  and  pleasures,  not  only  good  in  them- 
selves, but  consonant  to  his  previous  dispositions.  The  road  to 
wealth  lay  open  before  him,  but  his  feet  refused  to  tread  it.  He 
was  invincibly  drawn  to  poverty,  solitude,  sacrifice  ;  modes  of  life 
from  which  he  shrank  by  nature,  and  which  led  to  no  goal  that 
he  could  see  or  understand.  There  is  no  name  so  descriptive  of 
such  impulses  as  supernatural. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

LED    BY   THE    SPIRIT. 

THE  earliest  of  the  letters  so  fortunately  preserved  by  the  affec- 
tion of  Isaac  Hecker's  kindred  is  addressed  to  his  mother, 
from  Chelsea,  and  bears  date  December  24,  1842.  After  giving 
some  details  of  his  arrival,  and  of  the  kindly  manner  in  which 
he  had  been  received,  he  writes  :  * 

"  But  as  regards  your  advice  to  write  my  thoughts  to  you, 
that  is  an  impossibility  which  I  cannot  govern  or  control.  This 
ought  not  to  be  so,  but  so  it  is.  Am  I  to  blame  ?  I  feel  not. 
And  what  if  I  could  tell  ?  It  might  be  only  a  deep  dissatisfac- 
tion which  could  not  be  made  intelligible,  or  at  least  not  be 
felt  as  it  is  felt  by  me.  Let  us  be  untroubled  about  it.  A  little 
time,  and,  I  hope,  all  will  pass  away,  and  I  be  the  same  as  usual. 
We  all  differ  a  little,  at  least  in  our  characters;  hence  there  is 
nothing  surprising  if  our  experiences  should  differ.  I  feel  that  a 
little  time  will  be  my  best  remedy,  which  I  trust  we  will  await 
without  much  anxiety.  Resignation  is  taught  when  we  cannot 
help  ourselves.  Take  nothing  I  have  said  discouragingly.  Turn 
fears  into  hopes  and  doubts  into  faith,  and  we  shall  be  better  if 
not  happier.  There  is  no  use  in  allowing  our  doubts  and  fears 
to  control  us  ;  by  fostering  them  we  increase  them,  and  we  want 
all  our  time  for  something  better  and  higher." 

Two  days  later  he  writes  more  fully,  and  this  letter  we  shall 
give  almost  entire  : 

"  Chelsea,  December  26,  1842. — BROTHERS:  I  want  to  write  to 
you,  but  what  is  the  use  of  scrawling  on  paper  if  I  write  what  I 
do  not  feel — intend  ?  It  is  worse  than  not  writing.  And  yet 
why  I  should  be  backward  I  don't  know.  The  change  that  I 
have  undergone  has  been  so  rapid  and  of  such  a  kind  ;  that  may 
be  the  reason.  I  feel  that  as  I  now  am  perhaps  you  cannot  un- 
derstand me.  I  am  afraid  lest  your  conduct  would  be  such  that 
under  present  circumstances  I  could  not  stand  under  it.  Do  not 
misunderstand  me.  If  I  have  ever  appreciated  anything  in  my 
life,  it  is  the  favor  and  indulgent  treatment  you  have  shown  me 
in  our  business.     I  know  that  I  have  never  done  an  equal  share 

*  We  have  corrected  some  slight  errors  of  orthography  and  punctuation  in  these  early 
letters.  They  were  of  the  sort  to  be  expected  from  a  self-trained  youth,  as  yet  little  used  to 
the  written  expression  of  his  thoughts.    They  soon  disappear  almost  entirely. 

36 


Led  by  the  Spirit.  37 


in  the  work  which   was  for  us    all    to    do.      I    have    always    been 
conscious  of  this.      I   hope  you  will    receive    this    as    it    is  written, 
for  I  am  open.       Daily  am    I    losing    that    disposition  which   was 
attributed  to  me  of  self-approval.     .     .     .     There  is  no  reason  why 
I  should  distrust  your  dispositions  toward   me    but    my  own  feel- 
ings, and  it  is  these  that  have  kept  me  back,  that  and  the  change 
my  mind  is  undergoing.     This  is  so  continuous,   and  at  the  same 
time  so  firmly  fixed,  that  I   am   unable  to  keep  back  any  longer. 
I  had  hopes  that  my  former  life  would    return,  so    that    I   would 
be  able  to  go    on    as    usual,   although    this    tendency   has    always 
been  growing  in  me.      But  I   find  more  and  more  that    it    is    not 
possible.       I   would  go  back   if  I    could,   but    the    impossibility  of 
that  I  Cannot  express.     To  continue  as    I  am   now  would  keep  me 
constantly  in  an  unsettled  state  of  health,  especially  as  my  future 
appears  to  be  opening  before  me  with  clearness.      I  say  sincerely 
that  I  have  lost  all  but  this  one  thing,  and  how  shall  I  speak  it  ? 
My  mind  has  lost  all  disposition  to  business ;  my  hopes,  life,  ex- 
istence, are  all  in  another  direction.      No   one  knows  how  I   tried 
to  exert    myself  to  work,   or  the    cause    of  my  inability.       I    was 
conscious  of  the  cause,  but  as  it  was   supposed    to    be  a  physical 
one,  the  reason  of  it  was  sought  for,  but  to  no  purpose.     In  the 
same   circumstances    now  I    should    be  worse.       When    I    say  my 
mind  cannot  be  occupied  as  formerly,  do  not  attribute  it    to    my 
wishes.     This  is  what  I  fear  ;   it  makes  me  almost  despair,  makes 
me  feel  that  I  would  rather  die  than  live  under  such  thoughts.      I 
never  could  be  happy  if  you  thought  so.      My  future  will  be  my 
only  evidence.       My  experience,   which  is  now    my  own   evidence, 
I  cannot  give  yon.       To  keep  company  with   females — you    know 
what  I   mean — I  have  no  desire.       I  have  no  thought  of    marry- 
ing, and    I    feel  an  aversion  to  company  for  such  an  end.      In  my 
whole  life  I  have  never  felt  less  inclined  to  it.      If  my  disposition 
ran  that  way,   marrying  might  lead  me  back  to    my  old  life,   but 
oh  !    that  is  impossible.     To  give  up,  as  I  have  to  do,  a  life  which 
has  often  been  my  highest  aim  and  hope,   is    done  with    a    sense 
of  responsibility   I   never  imagined  before.     This,   I    am  conscious, 
is  no  light  thought.       It  lies  deeper  than  myself,  and   I  have  not 
the  power  to  control  it.      I  do  not  write  this  with  ease  ;  it  is  done 
in  tears,  and  I   have  opened  my  mind  as  I  have  not  done  before. 
How  all  this  will  end   I   know  not,  but  cannot  but  trust  God.      It 
is  not  my  will  but    my  destiny,   which  will    not    be    one    of   ease 
and  pleasure,  but  one  which    I    contemplate    as  a  perpetual  sacri- 


The  Life  of  FatJier  Hecker. 


fice  of  my  past  hopes,  though  of  a  communion  I  had  never  felt. 
Can  I  adopt  a  course  of  life  to  increase  and  fulfil  my  present  life? 
I  am  unable  to  give  this  decision  singly.  You  will,  I  hope, 
accept  this  letter  in  the  spirit  I  have  written  it.  I  speak  to 
you  in  a  sense  I  never  have  spoken  to  you  before.  In 
this  letter  I  have  opened  as  far  as  I  could  my  inmost  life. 
My  heart  is  full  and  I  would  say  a  great  deal  more.  Truly,  a 
new  life  has  opened  to  me,  and  to  turn  backward  would  be 
death.  Not  suddenly  has  it  undergone  this  change,  but  it  has 
come  to  that  crisis  where  my  decision  must  be  made ;  hence  am  I 
forced  to  write  this  letter.  For  its  answer  I  shall  wait  with  intense 
anxiety.      Hoping  you  will  write  soon,   my  love  to  all. — ISAAC." 

The  next  letter,  though  addressed  to  his  brothers,  was  ap- 
parently intended  for  the  whole  family,  and  begins  with  more  than 
Isaac's  customary  abruptness  : 

"  Chelsea,  December  28,  1842. — I  will  open  my  mind  so  that 
you  can  have  the  materials  to  judge  from  as  well  as  myself.  I 
feel  unable  to  the  task  of  judging  alone  correctly.  I  have  given 
an  account  of  my  state  of  mind  in  my  former  letter,  but  will  add 
that  what  is  there  said  describes  a  permanent  state,  not  a  mo- 
mentary excitement.  You  may  think  that  in  a  little  time  this 
would  pass  away,  and  I  would  be  able  to  resume  my  former 
life ;  or,  at  least,  you  could  so  adapt  things  at  home  that  al- 
though I  should  not  precisely  occupy  myself  as  then,  still  it 
might  be  so  arranged  as  to  give  me  that  which  I  feel  necessary 
in  order    to    live  somewhat  contented. 

"  I  am  sorry  to  say  I  can  in  no  way  conceive  such  an  ar- 
rangement of  things  at  home.  Why  ?  I  hate  to  say  it,  yet  we 
might  as  well  come  to  an  understanding.  I  have  grown  out  of 
the  life  which  can  be  received  through  the  accustomed  channels 
of  the  circle  that  was  around  me.  I  am  subject  to  thoughts  and 
feelings  which  the  others  had  no  interest  in  ;  hence  they  could 
not  be  expressed.  There  can  be  no  need  to  tell  you  this — you 
all  must  have  seen  it.  How  can  I  stop  my  life  from  flowing 
on?  You  must  see  the  case  I  stand  in.  Do  not  think  I  have 
less  of  the  feelings  of  a  brother  and  a  son.  My  heart  never 
was  closer,  not  so   close  as  it  is  now  to  yours. 

"  Do  not  think  this  is  imagination  ;  in  this  I  have  had  too 
much  experience.  The  life  that  was  in  me  had  none  to  com- 
mune with,  and  I  felt  it  was  consuming  me.  I  tried  to  express 
this  in   different  ways  obscurely,  but  it  appeared  singular  and  no 


Led  by  the  Spirit.  39 


one  understood  me.  This  was  the  cause  of  my  wishing  to  go 
away,  hoping  I  would  either  get  clear  of  it  or  something  might 
turn  up,  I  knew  not  what.  One  course  was  advised  by  the 
doctor,  and  you  all  thought  as  he  did — that  was  to  keep  com- 
pany with  the  intention  of  getting  married.  This  was  not  the 
communion  that  I  wanted  or  that  was  congenial  to  my  life. 
Marrying  would  not,  I  am  convinced,  have  had  any  perma- 
nent effect.  It  was  not  that  which  controlled  me,  then  or  now. 
It  is  altogether  different ;  it  is  a  life  in  me  which  requires 
altogether  different  circumstances  to  live  it.  This  is  no  dream; 
or,  if  it  is,  then  have  I  never  had  such  reality. 

"  When  I  wrote  last  it  struck  me  I  might  secure  what  I  need 
at  Brook  Farm,  but  that  would  depend  greatly  upon  how  you 
answer  my  letter.  If  you  do  as  perhaps  you  may,  I  will  go  and 
see  whether  I  could  be  satisfied  and  how  it  is,  and  let  you 
know. 

"  So  far  had  I  written  when  your  letter  came.  .  .  .  You 
appear  to  ask  this  question  :  What  object  have  you  in  contem- 
plation ?  None  further  than  to  live  a  life  agreeable  to  the  mind  I 
have,   which   I  feel  under  a   necessity   to  do." 

"  Chelsea,  December  30,  1842. — To  Mother:  I  am  sorry  to 
hear  that  you  feel  worried.  My  health  is  good,  I  eat  and  sleep 
well.  That  my  mind  is  not  settled,  or  as  it  used  to  be,  is  no 
reason  to  be  troubled,  for  I  hope  it  is  not  changing  for  the  worse, 
and  I  look  forward  to  brighter  days  than  we  have  seen  in 
those  that  are  gone.  I  was  conscious  my  last  letter  was  not 
written  in  a  manner  to  give  you  ease ;  but  to  break  those  old 
habits  of  our  accustomed  communion  was  to  me  a  serious  task, 
and  done  under  a  sense  of  duty,  to  let  you  know  the  cause  of 
the  disease  I  was  supposed  to  labor  under.  That  is  past  now, 
and  I  hope  we  shall  understand  each  other,  and  that  our  fu- 
ture will  be  smooth  and  easy.  The  ice  has  been  broken.  That 
caused  me  some  pain  but  no  regret,  and  instead  of  feeling  sor- 
row, you  will,  I  hope,  be  contented  that  I  should  continue  the 
path   that  will  make  me  better." 

Concerning  Isaac  Hecker's  residence  at  Brook  Farm,  which 
was  begun  about  the  middle  of  the  following  January,  we  shall 
have  more  to  say  hereafter.  At  present  our  concern  is  chiefly 
with  those  explanations  of  his  conduct  and  motives  which  the 
anxieties  of  his  family  continually  forced  him  to  attempt.  There 
is,  however,    among    the    papers    belonging    to    this    period    one 


40  The  Life  of  Father  Heckcr. 

which,  although  found  with  the  letters,  was  evidently  so  included 
by  mistake,  and  at  some  later  date.  It  is  an  outpouring  still 
more  intimate  than  he  was  able  to  make  for  the  enlightenment  of 
others,  and  is  the  first  vestige  of  a  diary  which  has  been  found. 
But  it  seems  plain  that  his  longing  for  what  he  continually  calls 
"communion,"  and  the  effort  to  divine  the  will  of  Providence  in  his 
regard,  must  frequently  have  urged  him  to  that  introspective  self- 
contemplation  so  common  to  natures  like  his  before  their  time  for 
action  has  arrived.  We  make  some  brief  extracts  from  this  docu- 
ment which  illustrates,  still  more  plainly  than  any  of  the  letters, 
the  fact  that  the  interior  pressure  to  which  he  was  subjected  had 
for  its  uniform  tendency  and  result  his  vivid  realization  of  the 
Incarnation  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  written  in  a  fine,  close 
hand  on  a  sheet  of  letter-paper,  which  it  entirely  covers,  and 
bears  date  January  10,   1843  : 

"  Could  I  but  reveal  myself  unto  myself!  What  shall  I  say? 
Is  life  dear  to  me  ?  No.  Are  my  friends  dear  to  me  ?  I  could 
suffer  and  die  for  them,  if  need  were,  but  yet  I  have  none  of 
the  old  attachment  for  them.  I  would  clasp  all  to  my  heart, 
love  all  for  their  humanity,  but  not  as  relatives  or  individuals. 
.  .  .  Lord,  if  I  am  to  be  anything,  I  am,  of  all,  most  unfit 
for  the  task.  What  shall  I  do  ?  Whom  shall  I  cry  to  but  Him 
who  has  given  me  life  and  planted  this  spirit  in  me  ?  Unto 
Thee,  then,  do  I  cry  from  the  depths  of  my  soul  for  light  to 
suffer.  If  there  is  anything  for  me  to  do,  why  this  darkness  all 
around  me  ?  I  ask  not  to  be  happy.  I  will  forego,  as  I  always 
had  a  presentiment  I  must  do,  all  hopes  which  young  men  of 
my  age  are  prone  to  picture  in  their  minds.  If  only  I  could  have 
a  ray  of  light  on  my  present  condition !  O  Lord  !  open  my 
eyes  to  see  the  path  Thou  wouldst  have  me  walk  in.     .      .     . 

"Jan.  11. — True  life  is  one  continuous  prayer,  one  unceasing 
aspiration  after  the  holy.  I  have  no  conception  of  a  life  insen- 
sible to  that  which  is  not  above  itself,  lofty.  I  would  not  take 
it  on  myself  to  say  I  have  been  «  born  again,'  but  I  know  that 
I  have  passed  from  death  to  life.  Things  below  have  no  hold 
upon  me  further  than  as  they  lead  to  things  above.  It  is  not  a 
moral  restraint  that  I  have  over  myself,  but  it  is  such  a  change, 
a  conversion  of  my  whole  being,  that  I  have  no  need  of  restraint. 
Temptations  still  beset  me — not  sensual,  but  of  a  kind  which 
seek  to  make  me  untrue  to  my  life.  If  I  am  not  on  my  guard 
I  become  cold.     May  I  always  be  humble,  meek,  prayerful,  open 


Led  by  the  Spirit.  41 


to  all  men.     Light,  love,  and  life    God  is  always  giving,  but  we 
turn  our  backs  and  will  not  receive.      .      .      . 

"  Who  can  measure  the  depths  of  Christ's  suffering — alone  in 
the  world,  having  that  which  would  give  life  everlasting,  a  heaven, 
to  those  who  would  receive  it,  and  yet  despised,  spit  upon,  re- 
jected of  men  !  Oh  !  how  sweet  must  it  have  been  to  His  soul 
when  He  found  even  one  who  would  accept  a  portion  of  that 
precious  gift  which  He  came  to  the  world  to  bestow !  Well 
could  He  say,  'Father,  forgive  them;  they  know  not  what  they 
do.'  He  would  give  them  life,  but  they  would  not  receive.  He 
would  save  them,  but  they  rejected  Him.  He  loved  them,  and 
they  despised  Him.  Alas  !  who  has  measured  even  in  a  small 
degree  the  love  of  Christ  and  yet  denied  His  superiority  over 
man  !  His  love,  goodness,  mercy  are  unbounded.  O  Lord  !  may 
I    daily    come    into    closer    communion    with    Thy    Son,    Jesus 

Christ." 

On  the  2 2d  of  February  he  addresses  both  of  his  parents  in 
reply  to  a  letter  sent  by  his  brother  John,  detailing  some  of 
their  troubles  on  this  head.     He  writes  : 

"  It  is  as  great  a  difficulty  for  me  to  reconcile  my  being 
here  with  my  sense  of  duty  towards  you.  .  .  .  Since  I  must 
speak,  let  me  tell  you  that  I  have  at  present  no  disposition  to 
return.  Neither  are  the  circumstances  that  surround  me  now 
those  which  will  give  me  contentment ;  but  I  feel  that  I  am 
here  as  a  temporary  place,  and  that  by  spring  something  will 
turn  up  which  I  hope  will  be  for  the  happiness  of  us  all.  What 
it  will  be  I  have  not  the  least  idea  of  now.  It  is  as  impossible 
for  me  to  give  you  an  explanation  of  that  which  has  led  me  of 
late  as  it  would  be  for  a  stranger.  All  before  me  is  dark,  even 
as  that  is  which  leads  me  now  and  has  led  me  before.  One 
sentiment  I  have  which  I  feel  I  cannot  impart  to  you.  It  is  that 
I  am  controlled.  Formerly  I  could  act  from  intention,  but  now 
I  have  no  future  to  design,  nothing  in  prospect,  and  my  present 
action  is  from  a  present  cause,  not  from  any  past.  Hence  it  is 
that  while  my  action  may  appear  to  others  as  designed,  to  me 
it  is  unlooked-for  and  unaccountable.  I  do  not  expect  that 
others  can  feel  this  as  I  do.  I  am  tossed  about  in  a  sea  without 
a  rudder.  What  drives  me  onward,  and  where  I  shall  be  driven, 
is  to  me  unknown.  My  past  life  seems  to  me  like  that  of  an- 
other person,  and  my  present  is  like  a  dream.  Where  am  I  ? 
I  know  not.      I  have  no  power  over  my  present,   I    do    not  even 


42  The  Life  of  Fatlier  Hccker. 


know  what  it  is.      Whom  can    I    find    like   myself,  whom    can    I 
speak  to  that  will  understand  me  ? 

"  This  makes  me  still,  lonely  ;  and  I  cannot  wish  myself  out 
of  this  state.  I  have  no  will  to  do  that — not  that  I  have  any 
desire  to.  All  I  can  say  is  that  I  am  in  it.  What  would  be  the 
effect  of  necessity  on  me,  I  know  not,  whether  it  would  lead  me 
back  or  lead  me  on.  My  feeling  of  duty  towards  you  is  a  con- 
tinual weight  upon  me  which  I  cannot  throw  off — it  is  best, 
perhaps,  that  I  cannot.  All  appears  to  me  as  a  seeming,  not  a 
reality.  Nothing  touches  that  life  in  me  which  is  seeking  that 
which   I  know   not." 

To  GEORGE  Hecker. — "Brook  Farm,  March  6,  1843. — What 
was  the  reason  of  my  going,  or  what  made  me  go  ?  The  reason 
I  am  not  able  to  tell.  But  what  I  felt  was  a  dark,  irresistible 
influence  upon  me  that  led  me  away  from  home.  What  it  was 
I  know  not.  What  keeps  me  here  I  cannot  tell.  It  is  only 
when  I  struggle  against  it  that  a  spell  comes  over  me.  If  I 
give  up  to  it,  nothing  is  the  matter  with  me.  But  when  I  look 
to  my  past,  my  duty  toward  you  all,  and  consider  what  this 
may  lead  me  to,  and  then  attempt  to  return,  I  get  into  a  state 
which  I   cannot  speak  of. 

"  By  attempt  to  return  I  mean  an  attempt  to  return  to  my 
old  life,  for  so  I  have  to  call  it — that  is,  to  get  clear  of  this 
influence.  And  yet  I  have  no  will  to  will  against  it.  I  do  not 
desire  it,  or  its  mode  of  living,  and  I  am  opposed  to  its  tendency. 

"  What  bearing  this  has  upon  the  question  of  my  coming 
home  you  will  perceive.  As  soon  as  I  can  come,  I  will.  If  I 
should  do  so  now,  it  would  throw  me  back  to  the  place  from 
which  I  started.  Is  this  fancy  on  my  part  ?  All  I  can  say  is 
that  if  so  the  last  nine  or  ten  months  of  my  life  have  been  a 
fancy  which  is  too  deep  for  me  to  control." 

After  paying  his  family  a  visit  in  April,  he  writes  to  them 
on  his  return  : 

"  Brook  Farm,  April  14,  1843. — Here  I  am  alone  in  my  room 
once  more.  I  feel  settled,  and  begin  to  live  again,  separated 
from  everything  but  my  studies  and  thoughts,  and  the  feeling  of 
gratitude  toward  you  all  lor  treating  me  so  much  better  than  I 
am  aware  of  ever  having  treated  you.  May  I  ever  keep  this 
sense  of  obligation  and  indebtedness.  My  prayer  is,  that  the  life 
I  have  been  led  to  live  these  few  months  back  may  prove  to 
the   advantage    of   us    all  in  the    end.      I    sometimes    feel    guilty 


ifc>y 


Led  by  the  Spirit.  43 


because  I  did  not  attempt  again  to  try  and  labor  with  you. 
But  the  power  that  kept  me  back,  its  hold  upon  me,  its  strength 
over  me,  all  that  I  am  unable  to  communicate,  makes  my  situa- 
tion appear  strange  to  others,  and  to  myself  irreconcilable  with 
my  former  state.  Still,  I  trust  that,  in  a  short  period,  all  things 
will  take  their  peaceful  and  orderly  course." 

To  GEORGE  HECKER. — "Brook  Farm,  May  12,  1843. — How 
much  nearer  to  you  I  feel  on  account  of  your  good  letter  you 
cannot  estimate — nearer  than  when  we  slept  in  the  same  bed. 
Nearness  of  body  is  no  evidence  of  the  distance  between  souls, 
for  I  imagine  Christ  loved  His  mother  very  tenderly  when  He  ^ 
said,   '  Woman,  what  have  I   to  do  with  thee  ?  ' 

"  I  have  felt,  time  and  again,  that  either  I  would  have  to 
give  up  the  life  that  was  struggling  in  me,  or  withdraw  from 
business  in  the  way  that  we  pursue  it.  This  I  had  long  felt, 
before  the  period  came  which  suddenly  threw  me  involuntarily 
out  of  it.  Here  I  am,  living  in  the  present,  without  a  why  or 
a  wherefore,  trusting  that  something  will  shape  my  course  intelli- 
gibly. I  am  completely  without  object.  And  when  occasionally 
I  emerge,  if  I  may  so  speak,  into  actual  life,  I  feel  that  I  havej 
dissipated  time.  A  sense  of  guilt  accompanies  that  of  pleasure, 
and  I  return  inwardly  into  a  deeper,  intenser  life,  breaking  those 
tender  roots  which  held  me  fast  for  a  short  period  to  the  out- 
ward. In  study  only  do  I  enter  with  wholeness  ;  nothing  else 
appears  to  take  hold  of  my  life."  .  .  .  "I  am  staying  here, 
intentionally,  for  a  short  period.  When  the  time  arrives "  (for 
leaving)  "  heaven  knows  what  I  may  do.  I  am  now  perfectly 
dumb  before  it.  Perhaps  I  may  return  and  enter  into  business 
with  more  perseverance  and  industry  than  before  ;  perhaps  I  may 
stay  here ;  it  may  be  that  I  shall  be  led  elsewhere.  But  there 
is  no  utility  in  speculating  on  the  future.  If  we  lived  as  we 
should,  we  would  feel  that  we  lived  in  the  presence  of  God, 
without  past  or  future,  having  a  full  consciousness  of  existence, 
living  the  '  eternal  life.'     .     . 

"  George,  do  not  get  too  engrossed  with  outward  business. 
Rather  neglect  a  part  of  it  for  that  which  is  immortal  in  its  life, 
incomparable  in  its  fulness.  It  is  a  deep,  important  truth  :  '  Seek 
first  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  then  all  things  will  be  added.' 
In  having  nothing  we  have  all." 

To  Mrs.  Hecker. — "Brook  Farm,  May  16,  1843. — Dear 
Mother  :    You  will  not  take  it  unkind,   my  not   writing    to    you 


44  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


before  ?  I  am  sure  you  will  not,  for  you  know  what  I  am. 
Daily  I  feel  more  and  more  indebted  to  you  for  my  life,  espe- 
cially when  I  feel  happy  and  good.  How  can  I  repay  you  ?  As 
you,  no  doubt,  would  wish  me  to — by  becoming  better  and  living 
as  you  have  desired  and  prayed  that  I  should,  which  I  trust,  by 
Divine  assistance,   I   may. 

"  Mother,  I  cannot  express  the  depth  of  gratitude  I  feel 
toward  you  for  the  tender  care  and  loving  discipline  with  which 
you  brought  me  up  to  manhood.  Without  it,  oh !  what  might  I 
not  have  been  ?  The  good  that  I  have,  under  God,  I  am  con- 
scious that  I  am  greatly  indebted  to  thee  for  ;  at  times  I  feel  that 
it  is  thou  acting  in  me,  and  that  there  is  nothing  that  can  ever 
separate  us.  A  bond  which  is  as  eternal  as  our  immortality,  our 
life,  binds  us  together  and  cannot  be  broken.- 

"  Mother,  that  I  should  be  away  from  home  at  present  no 
doubt  makes  you  sorrowful  often,  and  you  wish  me  back.  Let  me 
tell  you  how  it  is  with  me.  The  life  which  surrounds  me  in  New 
York  oppresses  me,  contracts  my  feelings,  and  abridges  my  liberty. 
Business,  as  it  is  now  pursued,  is  a  burden  upon  my  spiritual  life, 
and  all  its  influence  hurtful  to  the  growth  of  a  better  life.  This  I 
have  felt  for  a  long  time,  and  feel  it  now  more  intensely  than 
before.  And  the  society  I  had  there  was  not  such  as  benefited 
me.  My  life  was  not  increased  by  theirs,  and  I  was  gradually 
ceasing  to  be.  I  was  lonely,  friendless,  and  without  object  in  this 
world,  while  at  the  same  time  I  was  conscious  of  a  greater  degree 
of  activity  of  mind  in  another  direction.  These  causes  still 
remain. 

"  ...  I  feel  fully  conscious  of  the  importance  of  making 
any  change  in  my  life  at  my  present  age — giving  up  those  ad- 
vantages which  so  many  desire ;  as  well  as  the  necessity  of 
being  considerate,  prudent,  and  slow  to  decide.  I  am  aware  that 
my  future  state  here,  and  hence  hereafter,  will  greatly  depend 
upon  the  steps  I  now  take,  and  therefore  I  would  do  nothing 
unadvised  or  hastily.  I  would  not  sacrifice  eternal  for  worldly  life. 
At  present  I  wish  to  live  a  true  life,  desiring  nothing  external, 
seeing  that  things  external  cannot  procure  those  things  for  and  in 
which  I  live.  I  do  not  renounce  things,  but  feel  no  inclination  for 
them.  All  is  indifferent  to  me — poverty  or  riches,  life  or  death. 
I  am  loosed.  But  do  not  on  this  account  think  I  am  sorrowful ; 
nay,  for  I  have  nothing  to  sorrow  for.  Is  there  no  bright  hope  at 
a  distance  which   cheers  me   onward  and  beckons   me   to  speed  ? 


Led  by  the  Spirit. 


45 


I  dare  not  say.  Sometimes  I  feel  so — it  is  the  unutterable.  Yet  I 
remain  contented  to  be  without  spring  or  autumn,  youth  or  age. 
One  tie  has  been  loosened  after  another;  the  dreams  of  my  youth 
have  passed  away  silently,  and  the  visions  of  the  future  I  then 
beheld  have  vanished.  I  feel  awakened  as  from  a  dream,  and 
like  a  shadow  has  my  past  gone  by.  With  the  verse  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  picture  you  gave  me,   I  can  say  : 

"  '  Oh  !  days  that  once  I  used  to  prize, 
Are  ye  for  ever  gone  ? 
The  veil  is  taken  from  my  eyes, 
And  now  I  stand  alone.' 

"  But  I  would  not  recall  those  by-gone  days,  nor  do  I  stand 
alone.  No  !  Out  from  this  life  will  spring  a  higher  world,  of 
which  the  past  was  but  a  weak,  faint  shadow." 


CHAPTER   V. 

AT   BROOK    FARM. 

THE  famous  though  short-lived  community  at  West  Roxbury, 
Massachusetts,  where  Isaac  Hecker  made  his  first  trial  of  the 
common  life,  was  started  in  the  spring  of  1841  by  George  Ripley 
and  his  wife,  Nathaniel  Hav/thorne,  John  S.  Dwight,  George  P. 
Bradford,  Sarah  Sterns,  a  niece  of  George  Ripley's,  Marianne 
Ripley,  his  sister,  and  four  or  five  others  whose  names  we  do 
not  know.  In  September  of  the  same  year  they  were  joined  by 
Charles  A.  Dana,  now  of  the  New  York  Sun.  Hawthorne's 
residence  at  the  Farm,  commemorated  in  the  Blithcdale  Ro- 
mance, had  terminated  before  Mr.  Dana's  began.  The  Curtis 
brothers,  Burrill  and  George  William,  were  there  when  Isaac 
Hecker  came.  Emerson  was  an  occasional  visitor ;  so  was  Mar- 
garet Fuller.  Bronson  Olcott,  then  cogitating  his  own  ephem- 
eral experiment  at  Fruitlands,  sometimes  descended  on  the  gay 
community  and  was  doubtless  "  Orphic  "  at  his  leisure. 

The  association  was  the  outcome  of  many  discussions  which 
had  taken  place  at  Mr.  Ripley's  house  in  Boston  during  the 
winter  of  1840-41.  Among  the  prominent  Bostonians  who  took 
part  in  these  informal  talks  were  Theodore  Parker,  Adin  Ballou, 
Samuel  Robbins,  John  S.  Dwight,  Warren  Burton,  and  Orestes 
Brownson.  Each  of  these  men,  and,  if  we  do  not  mistake, 
George  Ripley  also,  presided  at  the  time  over  some  religious 
body.  Mr.  Ballou,  who  was  a  Universalist  minister  of  much 
local  renown,  was,  perhaps,  the  only  exception  to  the  prevailing 
Unitarian  complexion  of  the  assembly. 

The  object  of  their  discussions  seems  to  have  been,  in  a 
general  way,  the  necessity  for  some  social  reform  which  should 
go  to  the  root  of  the  commercial  spirit  and  the  contempt  for 
certain  kinds  of  labor  so  widely  prevalent  ;  and,  in  a  special 
way,  the  feasibility  of  establishing  at  once,  on  however  small  a 
scale,  a  co-operative  experiment  in  family  life,  having  for  its 
ulterior  aim  the  reorganization  of  society  on  a  less  selfish  basis. 
They  probably  considered  that,  a  beginning  once  made  by 
people  of  their  stamp,  the  influence  of  their  example  would 
work  as  a  quickening  leaven.  They  hoped  to  be  the  mustard- 
seed  which,  planted  in  a  congenial    soil,  would    grow  into  a  tree 

in  whose  branches  all  the    birds  of  the  air    might  dwell.     It  was 

46 


Tlie    Young    TrHnscericieritcilist. 

(From  a  daguerreotype.) 


At  Brook  Farm.  47 


the  initial  misfortune  of  the  Brook- Farmers  to  establish  themselves 
on  a  picturesque  but  gravelly  and  uncongenial  soil,  whose  poverty 
went  very  far  toward  compassing  the  collapse  of  their  undertaking. 
Not  all  of  the  ministers  whose  names  have  just  been  men- 
tioned were  of  one  mind,  either  as  to  the  special  evils  to  be 
counteracted  or  the  remedies  which  might  be  tentatively  applied. 
Three  different  associations  took  their  rise  from  among  this  hand- 
ful of  earnest  seekers  after  better  social  methods.  Mr.  Ballou, 
who  headed  one  of  these,  believed  that  unity  and  cohesion  could 
be  most  surely  obtained  by  a  frank  avowal  of  beliefs,  aims,  and 
practices,  to  which  all  present  and  future  associates  would  be 
expected  to  conform.  Mrs.  Kirby,  whose  interesting  volume  * 
we  have  already  quoted,  says  that  the  platform  of  this  party 
bound  them  to  abolitionism,  anti-orthodoxy,  women's  rights, 
total  abstinence,  and  opposition  to  war.  They  established  them- 
selves at  Hopedale,  Massachusetts,  where,  so  far  as  our  knowledge 
goes,  some  vestige  of  them  may  still  remain,  though  the  analo- 
gies and  probabilities  are  all  against  such  a  survival.  A  second 
band  of  "  come-outers,"  as  people  used  to  be  called  in  that  day 
and  region,  when  they  abandoned  the  common  road  for  reasons 
not  obviously  compulsory,  went  to  Northampton  in  the  same 
State,  and  from  there  into  corporate  obscurity. 

Mr.  Ripley's  scheme  was  more  elastic,  and  if  the  money 
basis  of  the  association  had  been  more  solid,  there  seems  no 
reason  on  the  face  of  things  why  this  community  at  Brook 
Farm  might  not  have  enjoyed  a  much  longer  lease  of  life.  It 
seems  to  have  left  a  most  pleasant  memory  in  the  minds  of 
all  who  were  ever  members  of  it.  In  matters  of  belief 
and  of  opinion  no  hard-and-fast  lines  were  drawn  at  any 
point.  In  matters  of  conduct,  the  morality  of  self-respecting 
New-Englanders  who  were  at  a  farther  remove  from  Puritanic 
creeds  than  from  Puritanic  discipline,  was  regarded  as  a  sufficient 
guarantee  of  social    decorum.       Of   the    earliest    additions  to  the 

o 

co-operative  household,  a  sprinkling  were  already  Catholic  ; 
others,  including  the  wife  and  the  niece  of  the  founder,  after- 
wards became  so.  Some  attended  orthodox  Protestant  churches  ; 
the  majority  were  probably  Unitarians.  Discussion  on  all  sub- 
jects appears  to  have  been  free,  frank,  and  good-tempered. 

There  was  no  attempt    made  at  any  communism  except  that 
of    intellectual    and    social    gifts    and    privileges.     There    was    a 

*  Wars  of  Experience.    New  York  :  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.    1887. 


48  The  Life  of  Father  Heckcr, 


common  table,  and  Mrs.  Kirby  has  given  us  some  attractive 
glimpses  of  the  good  feeling,  and  kindly  gayety,  and  practical 
observance  of  the  precept  to  "  bear  one  another's  burdens  " 
which  came  into  play  around  it.  For  many  months,  as  no  one 
could  endure  to  have  his  equal  serve  him,  and  all  were  equals, 
there  was  a  constant  getting  up  and  down  at  table  so  that  each 
might  help  himself.  Afterwards,  when  decline  had  already  set 
in,  so  far  as  the  material  basis  of  the  undertaking  was  con- 
cerned, and  those  who  had  its  success  most  at  heart  had  begun 
to  study  Fourier  for  fruitful  suggestions,  the  first  practical  hint 
from  that  quarter  resulted  in  Mr.  Dana's  organizing  "  a  group 
of  servitors."  These,  writes  Mrs.  Kirby,  *  comprised  "  four 
of  the  most  elegant  youths  at  the  community  —  the  son 
of  a  Louisiana  planter,  a  young  Spanish  hidalgo,  a  rudimen- 
tary Free-Soiler  from  Hingham,  and,  if  I  remember  rightly, 
Edward  Barlow  (the  brother  of  Francis).  These,  with  one 
accord,  elected  as  chief  their  handsome  and  beloved  teacher.  It 
is  hardly  necessary  to  observe  that  the  business  was  henceforth 
attended  to  with  such  courtly  grace  and  such  promptness  that 
the  new  regime  was  applauded  by  every  one,  although  it  did 
appear  at  first  as  if  we  were  all  engaged  in  acting  a  play.  The 
group,  with  their  admired  chief,  took  dinner,  which  had  been 
kept  warm  for  them,  afterwards,  and  were  themselves  waited 
upon  with  the  utmost  consideration,  but  I  confess  I  never  could 
get  accustomed  to  the  new  regulation." 

The  watchword  of  the  place  was  fraternity,  not  communism. 
People  took  up  residence  at  Brook  Farm  on  different  terms. 
Some  paid  a  stipulated  board,  and  thus  freed  themselves  from  any 
obligatory  share  in  either  domestic  or  out-door  labor.  Others 
contributed  smaller  sums  and  worked  out  the  balance.  Some 
gave  labor  only,  as  was  the  case  with  Mrs.  Kirby,  then  Georgi- 
ana  Bruce,  an  English  girl  of  strong  character.  She  says  she 
agreed  to  work  eight  hours  a  day  for  her  board  and  instruction 
in  any  branches  of  study  which  she  elected  to  pursue.  As  an 
illustration  of  the  actual  poverty  to  which  the  community  were 
soon  reduced,  and,  moreover,  of  the  low  money  value  they  set  on 
domestic  labor,  we  give  another  characteristic  passage  from  her 
book.  The  price  of  full  board,  as  we  learn  from  a  bill  sent  by 
Mr.  Ripley  to  Isaac  Hecker  after  the  latter's  final  departure  from 
the  Farm,  was  five  dollars  and  fifty  cents  a  week  : 

*  Years  of  Experience,  pp.  178,  179. 


At  Brook  Farm.  49 


"  When  a  year  had  elapsed  I  found  my  purse  empty  and  my 
wardrobe  much  the  worse  for  wear.  As  I  was  known  to  be 
heartily  interested  in  the  new  movement,  my  case  was  taken 
under  consideration,  and,  with  the  understanding  that  I  was  to 
add  two  more  hours  to  my  working  day,  I  was  admitted  as 
bona-fidc  member  of  the  association  (which  included  only  a  dozen), 
and  was  allowed  to  draw  on  the  treasury  for  my  very  moderate 
necessities.  Forty  dollars  a  year  would  cover  these,  writing- 
paper  and  postage  included.  The  last  item  was  no  unimportant 
one,  as  each  letter  cost  from  ten  to  fifty  cents,  and  money 
counted  for  more  then  than  now. 

"  I  should  explain  that  for  the  whole  of  one  winter  there 
remained  but  two  bonnets  fit  for  city  eyes  among  six  of  us. 
But  the  best  of  these  was  forced  on  whomever  was  going  to 
town.  As  for  best  dresses,  a  twenty-five  cent  delaine  was  held 
to  be  gorgeous  apparel.  The  gentlemen  had  found  it  desirable 
to  adopt  a  tunic  in  place  of  the  more  expensive,  old-world  coat"  * 

The  income  of  the  association  was  derived  from  various 
sources  other  than  the  prices  paid  for  board.  There  was  a  school 
for  young  children,  presided  over  by  Mrs.  Ripley,  assisted  by 
various  pupil-teachers,  who  thus  partially  recompensed  the  com- 
munity for  their  own  support.  Fruit,  milk,  and  vegetables,  when 
there  were  any  to  spare,  were  sent  to  the  Boston  markets  Now 
and  then  some  benevolent  philanthropist  with  means  would  make 
a  donation.  No  one  who  entered  was  expected  to  contribute  his 
whole  income  to  the  general  purse,  unless  such  income  would  not 
more  than  cover  the  actual  expense  incurred  for  him.  When 
Isaac  Hecker  went  to  West  Roxbury  the  establishment  included 
seventy  inmates,  who  were  distributed  in  several  buildings  bear- 
ing such  poetical  names  as  the  Hive,  the  Eyrie,  the  Nest,  and 
so  on.  The  number  rose  to  ninety  or  a  hundred  before  he  left 
them,  but  the  additions  seem  occasionally  to  have  been  in  the 
nature  of  subtractions  also,  taking  away  more  of  the  cultivation, 
refinement,  and  general  good  feeling  which  had  been  the  distin- 
guishing character  of  the  place,  than  they  added  by  their  money 
or  their  labor. 

Isaac  Hecker  was  never  an  actual  member  of  that  inner  com- 
munity of  whose  aspirations  and  convictions  the  Farm  was  in- 
tended as  an  embodiment.  He  entered  at  first  as  a  partial 
boarder,  paying    four    dollars    a    week,  and    undertaking  also  the 

*  Years  of  Experience,  p.   132. 


50  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


bread-making,  which  until  then  had  been  very  badly  done,  as  he 
writes  to  his  mother.  It  should  be  understood  that  whatever  was 
received  from  any  inmate,  either  in  money  or  labor,  was  accepted 
not'  as  a  mere  return  for  food  and  shelter,  but  as  an  equivalent 
for  such  instruction  as  could  be  imparted  by  any  other  member 
of  the  collective  family.  And  there  were  many  competent  and 
brilliant  men  and  women  there,  whose  attainments  not  only  quali- 
fied them  amply  for  the  tasks  they  then  assumed,  but  have  since 
made  them  prominent  in  American  letters  and  journalism.  Mr. 
Ripley  lectured  on  modern  philosophy  to  all  who  desired  an 
acquaintance  with  Spinoza,  Kant,  Cousin,  and  their  compeers. 
George  P.  Bradford  was  a  thorough  classical  scholar.  Charles  A. 
Dana,  then  fresh  from  Harvard,  was  an  enthusiast  for  German 
literature,  and  successful  in  imparting  both  knowledge  and  en- 
thusiasm to  his  pupils.  There  were  classes  in  almost  everything 
that  any  one  cared  to  study.  French  and  music,  as  we  learn 
from  one  of  Isaac's  letters  home,  were  what  he  set  himself  to  at 
the  first.  The  latter  was  taught  by  so  accomplished  a  master  as 
John  S.  Dwight,  who  conducted  weekly  singing-schools  for  both 
children  and  adults. 

To  what  other  studies  Isaac  may  have  applied  himself  we 
hardly  know.  It  will  be  noticed  that  Mr.  George  William  Curtis, 
in  the  kindly  reminiscences  which  he  permits  us  to  embody  in 
this  chapter,  says  that  he  does  not  remember  him  as  "especially 
studious."  The  remark  tallies  with  the  impression  we  have 
gathered  from  the  journal  kept  while  he  was  there.  His  mind 
was  introverted.  Philosophical  questions,  then  as  always,  interested 
him  profoundly,  but  only  in  so  far  as  they  led  to  practical  results. 
It  might  be  truer  to  say  that  philosophy  was  at  no  time  more 
than  the  handmaid  of  theology  to  him.  At  this  period  he  was 
in  the  thick  of  his  struggle  to  attain  certainty  with  regard  to  the 
nature  and  extent  of  the  Christian  revelation,  and  what  he  sought 
at  Brook  Farm  was  the  leisure  and  quiet  and  opportunity  for 
solitude  which  could  not  be  his  at  home.  "  Lead  me  into  Thy 
holy  Church,  which  I  now  am  seeking,"  he  writes  as  the  final 
petition  of  the  prayer  with  which  the  first  bulky  volume  of  his 
diary  opens.  With  the  burden  of  that  search  upon  him,  it  was 
not  possible  for  such  a  nature  as  his  to  plunge  with  the  unreserve 
which  is  the  condition  of  success  into  any  study  which  had  no 
direct  reference  to  it.  We  find  him  complaining  at  frequent  in- 
tervals that  he  cannot  give  his  studies  the  attention  they  demand. 


At  Brook  Jut  nil.  51 


Nor  were  his  labors  as  the  'community  baker  of  long  continuance. 
They  left  him  too  little  time  at  his  own  disposal,  and  in  a  short 
time  he  became  a  full  boarder,  and  occupied  himself  only  as  his 
inclinations  directed. 

It  may  occur  to  some  of  our  readers  to  wonder  why 
a  man  like  Brownson,  who  was  then  fast  nearing  the  certainty 
he  afterwards  attained,  should  have  sent  a  youth  like  Isaac 
Hecker  to  Brook  Farm.  It  must  be  remembered  that  Brown- 
son's  road  to  the  Church  was  not  so  direct  as  that  of  his  young 
disciple,  nor  so  entirely  free  in  all  its  stages  from  self-crippling 
considerations.  As  we  shall  presently  see,  by  an  abstract  of  one 
of  his  sermons,  preached  in  the  spring  of  1843,  which  was  made 
by  Isaac  Hecker  at  the  time,  Brownson  thought  it  possible  to 
hold  all  Catholic  truth  and  yet  defer  entering  the  Church  until 
she  should  so  far  abate  her  claims  as  to  form  a  friendly  alliance 
with  orthodox  Protestantism  on  terms  not  too  distasteful  to  the  f 
latter.  He  was  not  yet  willing  to  depart  alone,  and  hoped  by  wait- 
ing to  take  others  with  him,  and  he  was  neither  ready  to  renounce 
wholly  his  private  views,  nor  to  counsel  such  a  step  to  young 
Hecker.  He  was  in  harmony,  moreover,  with  the  tolerant  and 
liberal  tendency  which  influenced  the  leading  spirits  at  Brook 
Farm.  Although  he  never  became  one  of  the  community,  he 
had  sent  his  son  Orestes  there  as  a  pupil,  and  was  a  frequent 
visitor  himself.  Their  aims,  as  expressed  in  a  passage  which  we 
subjoin  from  The  Dial  of  January,  1842,  were  assuredly  such  as 
would  approve  themselves  to  persons  who  fully  accepted  what 
they  believed  to  be  the  social  teaching  of  our  Lord,  but  who 
had  not  attained  to  any  true  conception  of  the  Divine  authority 
which  clothes  that  teaching: 

"  Whoever  is  satisfied  with  society  as  it  is  ;  whose  sense  of 
justice  is  not  wounded  by  its  common  action,  institutions,  spirit 
of  commerce,  has  no  business  with  this  community ;  neither  has 
any  one  who  is  willing  to  have  other  men  (needing  more  time 
for  intellectual  cultivation  than  himself)  give  their  best  hours  and 
strength  to  bodily  labor  to  secure  himself  immunity  therefrom. 
Everything  can  be  said  of  it,  in  a  degree,  which  Christ 
said  of  His  kingdom,  and  therefore  it  is  believed  that  in  some 
measure  it  does  embody  His  idea.  For  its  Gate  of  Entrance  is 
strait  and  narrow.  It  is,  literally,  a  pearl  hidden  in  a  field. 
Those  only  who  are  willing  to  lose  their  life  for  its  sake  shall 
find  it.  Those    who    have    not  the  faith   that  the  princi- 


52  The  Life  of  FatJicr  Hccker. 

pies  of  Christ's  kingdom  are  applicable  to  this  world,  will  smile 
at  it  as  a  visionary  attempt." 

Brook  Farm  has  an  interest  for  Catholics  because,  in  the 
order  of  guileless  nature,  it  was  the  preamble  of  that  common 
life  which  Isaac  Hecker  afterwards  enjoyed  in  its  supernatural 
realization  in  the  Church.  It  was  a  protest  against  that  selfish- 
ness of  the  individual  which  is  highly  accentuated  in  a  large 
class  of  New-Englanders,  and  prodigiously  developed  in  the 
economical  conditions  of  modern  society.  Against  these  Isaac 
had  revolted  in  New  York ;  at  Brook  Farm  he  hoped  to  find 
their  remedy.  And  in  fact  the  gentle  reformers,  as  we  may 
call  these  West  Roxbury  adventurers  into  the  unexplored 
regions  of  the  common  life,  were  worthy  of  their  task  though 
not  equal  to  it.  There  is  no  doubt  that  in  small  numbers  and 
with  a  partial  surrender  of  individual  prerogatives,  well-meaning 
men  and  women  may  taste  many  of  the  good  things  and  be 
able  to  bear  some  of  the  hardships  of  the  common  life.  But  to 
compass  in  permanent  form  its  aspirations  in  this  direction,  as 
in  many  others,  nature  is  incompetent.  The  terrible  if  wonderful 
success  of  Sparta  is  what  can  be  attained,  and  tells  at  what  cost. 
The  economy  of  the  bee-hive,  which  kills  or  drives  away  its 
superfluous  members,  and  the  polity  of  Sparta,  which  put  the 
cripples  and  the  aged  to  death,  are  essential  to  permanent  suc- 
cess in  the  venture  of  communism  in  the  natural  order.  "  Sweet- 
ness and  light  "  are  enjoyed  by  the  kw  only  at  the  sacrifice  of 
the  unwholesome  and  burdensome  members  of  the  hive. 

Brook  Farm,  however,  was  not  conceived  in  any  spirit  of 
cruelty  or  of  contempt  of  the  weaker  members  of  humanity ;  the 
very  contrary  was  the  case.  Sin  and  feebleness  were  capable, 
thought  its  founders,  of  elimination  by  the  force  of  natural  virtue. 
The  men  and  women  who  gathered  there  in  its  first  years  were 
noble  of  their  kind;  and  their  kind,  now  much  less  frequently 
met  with,  was  the  finest  product  of  natural  manhood.  Of  the 
channels  of  information  which  reach  us  from  Brook  Farm,  and 
we  believe  we  have  had  access  to  them  all,  none  contains  the 
slightest  evidence  of  sensuality,  the  least  trace  of  the  selfishness 
of  the  world,  or  even  any  sign  of  the  extravagances  of  spiritual 
pride.  There  is,  on  the  other  hand,  a  full  acknowledgment  of 
the  ordinary  failings  of  unpretentious  good  people.  Nor  do  we 
mean  to  say  that  they  were  purely  in  the  natural  order — who 
can    be    said    to    be    that  ?      They    were    the    descendants    of   the 


At  Brook  Farm.  53 


baptized  Puritans  whose  religious  fervor  had  been  for  genera- 
tions at  white  heat.  They  had,  indeed,  cut  the  root,  but  the 
sap  of  Christian  principle  still  lingered  in  the  trunk  and  branches 
and  brought  forth  fruit  which  was  supernatural,  though  destined 
never   to    ripen. 

Christ  was  the  model  of  the  Brook-Farmers,  as  He  had 
become  that  of  Isaac  Keeker.  They  did  not  know  Him  as  well 
as  they  knew  His  doctrine.  They  knew  better  what  He  said 
than  why  He  said  it,  and  that  defect  obscured  His  meaning  and 
mystified  their  understandings.  That  all  men  were  brethren  was 
the  result  of  their  study  of  humanity  under  what  they  conceived 
to  be  His  leadership  ;  that  all  labor  is  honorable,  and  entitled  to 
equal  remuneration,  was  their  solution  of  the  social  problem. 
While  any  man  was  superfluously  rich,  they  maintained,  no  man 
should  be  miserably  poor.  They  were  reaching  after  what  the 
best  spirits  of  the  human  race  were  then  and  now  loneinc  for. 
and  they  succeeded  as  well  as  any  can  who  employ  only  the 
selvage  of  the  Christian  garment  to  protect  themselves  against 
the  rigors  of  nature.  Saint- Simon  was  a  far  less  worthy  man  than 
George  Ripley,  but  he  failed  no  more  signally.  Frederic  Oza- 
nam,  whose  ambition  was  limited  in  its  scope  by  his  appre- 
ciation of  both  nature  and  the  supernatural,  succeeded  in  estab- 
lishing a  measure  of  true  fraternity  between  rich  and  poor 
throughout  the    Catholic  world. 

There  can  be  no  manner  of  doubt  that  although  Father 
Hecker  in  after  life  could  good-naturedly  smile  at  the  singu- 
larities of  Brook  Farm,  what  he  saw  and  was  taught  there  had 
a  strong  and  permanent  effect  on  his  character.  It  is  little  to 
say  that  the  influence  was  refining  to  him,  for  he  was  refined 
by  nature.  But  he  gained  what  was  to  him  a  constant  corrective 
of  any  tendency  to  man-hatred  in  all  its  degrees,  not  needed  by 
himself,  to  be  sure,  but  always  needed  in  his  dealing  with  others. 
It  gave  to  a  naturally  trustful  disposition  the  vim  and  vigor  of 
an  apostolate  for  a  cheerful  view  of  human  nature.  It  was  a 
characteristic  trait  of  his  to  expect  good  results  from  reliance 
on  human  virtue,  and  his  whole  success  as  a  persuader  of  men 
was  largely  to  be  explained  by  the  subtle  flattery  of  this  trust- 
ful attitude  towards  them.  At  Brook  Farm  the  mind  of  Isaac 
Hecker  was  eagerly  looking  for  instruction.  It  failed  to  get  even 
a  little  clear  light  on  the  more  perplexing  problems  of  life,  but 
it    got    something    better — the    object-lesson    of    good    men    and 


54  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 

women  struggling  nobly  and  unselfishly  for  laudable  ends.  Brook 
Farm  was  an  attempt  to  remove  obstructions  from  the  pathway  of 
human   progress,  taking  that  word  in  the  natural  sense. 

Even  afterwards,  when  he  had  known  human  destiny  in  its 
perfect  supernatural  and  natural  forms,  and  when  the  means  to 
compass  it  were  in  his  possession  and  plainly  competent  for  suc- 
cess, his  memory  reproduced  the  scenes  and  persons  of  Brook 
Farm  in  an  atmosphere  of  affection  and  admiration,  though  not 
unmingled  with  amusement.  He  used  not  infrequently  to  quote 
words  heard  there,  and  cite  examples  of  things  done  there,  as 
lessons  of  wisdom  not  only  for  the  philosopher  but  also  for  the 
ascetic.  He  was  there  equipped  with  the  necessary  external 
guarantee  of  his  inner  consciousness  that  man  is  good,  because 
made  so  by  his  Creator — inclined  indeed  to  evil,  but  yet  a  good 
being,  even  so  inclined.  Nothing  is  more  necessary  for  one  who 
is  to  be  a  teacher  among  a  population  whose  Catholicity  is  of 
blood  and  family  tradition  as  well  as  of  grace,  than  to  know  that 
there  is  virtue,  true  and  high  in  its  own  order,  outside  the  visible 
pale  of  the  Church.  Especially  is  this  necessary  if  Catholics  in 
any  age  or  country  are  to  be  fitted  for  a  missionary  vocation. 
That  this  is  the  vocation  of  the  Church  of  his  day  was  Isaac 
Hecker's  passionate  conviction.  He  was  able  to  communicate 
this  to  Catholics  of  the  old  stock  as  well  as  to  influence  non- 
Catholics  in  favor  of  the  Church  ;  perhaps  even  more  so.  More 
than  anything  else,  indeed,  Brook  Farm  taught  him  the  defect 
of  human  nature  on  its  highest  plane  ;  but  it  taught  him  also  the 
worthiness  of  the  men  and  women  of  America  of  the  apostle's  toil 
and  blood.  The  gentle  natures  whom  he  there  knew  and  learned 
to  love,  their  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  for  the  common  good,  their 
minds  at  once  innocent  and  cultivated,  their  devotion  to  their 
high  ideal,  the  absence  of  meanness,  coarseness,  vulgarity,  the 
sinking  of  private  ambitions,  the  patience  with  the  defects  of  others, 
their  desire  to  establish  the  communism  of  at  least  intellectual 
gifts — all  this  and  much  more  of  the  kind  fixed  his  views  and  affec- 
tions in  a  mould  which  eminently  fitted  him  as  a  vessel  of  election 
for  apostolic  uses. 

Before  passing  to  the  study  of  Isaac  Hecker's  own  interior 
during  the  period  of  his  residence  at  Brook  Farm,  it  is  our  pleasant 
privilege  to  communicate  to  our  readers  the  subjoined  charming 
reminiscence  of  his  personality  at  the  time,  from  one  who  was  his 
associate  there  : 


At  Brook  Farm.  55 


"  West  New  Brighton,  S.  /.,  February  28,  1890. — Dear  Sir  :  I 
fear  that  my  recollections  of  Father  Hecker  will  be  of  little  service 
to  you,  for  they  are  very  scant.  But  the  impression  of  the  young 
man  whom  I  knew  at  Brook  Farm  is  still  vivid.  It  must  have 
been  in  the  year  1843  that  he  came  to  the  Farm  in  West  Roxbury, 
near  Boston.  He  was  a  youth  of  twenty-three,  of  German  aspect, 
and  I  think  his  face  was  somewhat  seamed  with  small-pox.  But  his 
sweet  and  candid  expression,  his  gentle  and  affectionate  manner, 
were  very  winning.  He  had  an  air  of  singular  refinement  and 
self-reliance  combined  with  a  half-eager  inquisitiveness,  and  upon 
becoming  acquainted  with  him,  I  told  him  that  he  was  Ernest 
the  Seeker,  which  was  the  title  of  a  story  of  mental  unrest  which 
William   Henry  Channing  was  then  publishing  in  the  Dial. 

"  Hecker,  or,  as  I  always  called  him  and  think  of  him,  Isaac, 
had  apparently  come  to  Brook  Farm  because  it  was  a  result  of 
the  intellectual  agitation  of  the  time  which  had  reached  and 
touched  him  in  New  York.  He  had  been  bred  a  baker,  he  told 
me,  and  I  remember  with  what  satisfaction  he  said  to  me,  '  I 
am  sure  of  my  livelihood  because  I  can  make  good  bread.'  His 
powers  in  this  way  were  most  satisfactorily  tested  at  the  Farm, 
or,  as  it  was  generally  called,  '  the  Community,'  although  it  was 
in  no  other  sense  a  community  than  an  association  of  friendly 
workers  in  common.  He  was  drawn  to  Brook  Farm  by  the 
belief  that  its  life  would  be  at  least  agreeable  to  his  convictions  and 
tastes,  and  offer  him  the  society  of  those  who  might  answer  some 
of  his  questions,   even  if  they  could  not  satisfy  his  longings. 

"By  what  influences  his  mind  was  first  affected  by  the  moral 
movement  known  in  New  England  as  transcendentalism,  I  do  not 
know.  Probably  he  may  have  heard  Mr.  Emerson  lecture  in  New 
York,  or  he  may  have  read  Brownson's  Charles  Elzuood,  which 
dealt  with  the  questions  that  engaged  his  mind  and  conscience. 
But  among  the  many  interesting  figures  at  Brook  Farm  I  recall 
none  more  sincerely  absorbed  than  Isaac  Hecker  in  serious  ques- 
tions. The  merely  aesthetic  aspects  of  its  life,  its  gayety  and  social 
pleasures,  he  regarded  good-naturedly,  with  the  air  of  a  spectator 
who  tolerated  rather  than  needed  or  enjoyed  them.  There  was 
nothing  ascetic  or  severe  in  him,  but  I  have  often  thought  since  that 
his  feeling  was  probably  what  he  might  have  afterward  described 
as  a  consciousness  that   he  must  be  about  his  Father's  business. 

"  I  do  not  remember  him  as  especially  studious.  Mr.  Ripley 
had  classes  in  German  philosophy  and  metaphysics,  in  Kant  and 
Spinoza,  and  Isaac  used  to  look  in,  as  he  turned  wherever  he 
thought  he  might  find  answers  to  his  questions.  He  went  to  hear 
Theodore  Parker  preach  in  the  Unitarian  Church  in  the  neigh- 
boring village  of  West  Roxbury.  He  went  into  Boston,  about 
ten  miles  distant,  to  talk  with  Brownson,  and  to  Concord  to  see 
Emerson.       He   entered    into    the    working    life  at  the  Farm,  but 


56  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 


always,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  with  the  same  reserve  and  attitude 
of  observation.  He  was  the  dove  floating  in  the  air,  not  yet 
finding   the  spot  on  which  his  foot  might  rest. 

"  The  impression  that  I  gathered  from  my  intercourse  with 
him,  which  was  boyishly  intimate  and  affectionate,  was  that  of 
all  '  the  apostles  of  the  newness,'  as  they  were  gayly  called,  whose 
counsel  he  sought,  Brownson  was  the  most  satisfactory  to  him. 
T  thought  then  that  this  was  due  to  the  authority  of  Brownson's 
masterful  tone,  the  definiteness  of  his  views,  the  force  of  his 
'  understanding,'  as  the  word  was  then  philosophically  used  in 
distinction  from  the  reason.  Brownson's  mental  vigor  and  posi- 
tiveness  were  very  agreeable  to  a  candid  mind  which  was  specu- 
latively adrift  and  experimenting,  and,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  which 
was  more  emotional  than  logical.  Brownson,  after  his  life  of  varied 
theological  and  controversial  activity,  was  drawing  toward  the 
Catholic  Church,  and  his  virile  force  fascinated  the  more  delicate 
and  sensitive  temper  of  the  young  man,  and,  I  have  always  sup- 
posed, was  the  chief  influence  which  at  that  time  affected  Hecker's 
views,  although  he  did  not  then  enter  the  Catholic  Church. 

"  He  was  a  general  favorite  at  Brook  Farm,  always  equable 
and  playful,  wholly  simple  and  frank  in  manner.  He  talked 
readily  and  easily,  but  not  controversially.  His  smile  was  singu- 
larly attractive  and  sympathetic,  and  the  earnestness  of  which  I 
have  spoken  gave  him  an  unconscious  personal  dignity.  His 
temperament  was  sanguine.  The  whole  air  of  the  youth  was  that 
of  goodness.  I  do  not  think  that  the  impression  made  by  him 
forecast  his  career,  or,  in  any  degree,  the  leadership  which  he 
afterwards  held  in  his  Church.  But  everybody  who  knew  him  at 
that  time  must  recall  his  charming  amiability. 

"  I  think  that  he  did  not  remain  at  Brook  Farm  for  a  whole 
year,  and  when  later  he  went  to  Belgium  to  study  theology  at 
the  seminary  of  Mons  he  wrote  me  many  letters,  which  I  am 
sorry  to  say  have  disappeared.  I  remember  that  he  labored  with 
friendly  zeal  to  draw  me  to  his  Church,  and  at  his  request  I  read 
the  life  and  some  writing  of  St.  Alphonse  of  Liguori.  Gradually 
our  correspondence  declined  when  I  was  in  Europe,  and  was  never 
resumed  ;  nor  do  I  remember  seeing  him  again  more  than  once, 
many  years  ago.  There  was  still  in  the  clerical  figure,  which  was 
very  strange  to  me,  the  old  sweetness  of  smile  and  address ; 
there  was  some  talk  of  the  idyllic  days,  some  warm  words  of 
hearty  good  will,  but  our  interests  were  very  different,  and,  parting, 
we  went  our  separate  ways.  For  a  generation  we  lived  in  the 
same  city,  yet  we  never  met.  But  I  do  not  lose  the  bright  recol- 
lection of  Ernest  the  Seeker,  nor  forget  the  frank,  ardent,  gener- 
ous, manly  youth,  Isaac  Hecker. 

"  Very  truly  yours, 

"  George  William  Curtis." 


CHAPTER   VI. 

INNER    LIFE    WHILE   AT   BROOK    FARM. 

THE  private  journals  from  which  we  are  about  to  quote  so 
largely  were  an  unhoped-for  addition  to  the  stock  of  materials 
available  for  Father  Hecker's  biography.  Until  after  his  death 
not  even  their  existence,  still  less  the  nature  of  their  contents, 
was  suspected.  With  the  exception  of  two  important  docu- 
ments, one  written  while  he  was  in  Belgium,  in  obedience  to 
the  requirements  of  his  director ;  the  other  in  Rome,  for  the 
consideration  of  the  four  venerable  religious  whose  advice  he 
sought  before  founding  his  community,  no  records  of  his  in- 
terior life  have  been  discovered  which  are  at  all  comparable  in 
fulness  to  those  made  during  the  eighteen  months  which  pre- 
ceded his  admission  to  the  Church.  In  his  years  of  health  and 
strength  he  lived  and  worked  for  others ;  and  in  those  weary 
ones  of  illness  which  followed  them,  he  thought  and  wrote  and 
suffered,  but  apparently  without  making  any  deliberate  notes  of 
his  deeper  personal  experience. 

On  those  of  our  readers  whose  acquaintance  with  Father 
Hecker  dates,  as  our  own  does,  from  his  intensely  active  and 
laborious  prime,  these  revelations  of  the  period  when  he  was 
being  passively  wrought  upon  and  shaped  for  his  work  by 
the  hand  of  God,  may  produce  an  effect  not  unlike  that  we 
have  been  conscious  of  in  studying  the  greater  mass  from  which 
our  extracts  are  taken.  They  will,  perhaps,  be  struck,  in  the 
first  place,  by  the  unexpectedly  strong  witness  they  bear  to 
the  wholly  interior  and  mystical  experience  of  the  man.  They 
testify,  moreover,  to  the  real  and  objective  character  of  that 
leading  which  he  was  constrained  to  follow ;  and  not  only 
that.  They  do  so  in  a  way  which  furnishes  a  convincing  reply 
to  a  very  plausible  doubt  as  to  whether  the  narrow  and  uncon- 
genial surroundings  of  his  early  life  might  not,  by  themselves, 
be  sufficient  to  explain  the  discontent  of  a  poetic  and  aspiring 
nature  such  as  his. 

He  was  at  Brook  Farm  when  that  community  was  at 
its  pleasantest.  The  shadow  of  care  and  the  premonition  of 
failure  were,  indeed,  already  looming  up  before  those  who  bore 
the  chief  responsibilities  of  the  undertaking,  but  the  group  by 
virtue    of    whose    presence    it    became    famous  had    hardly  begun 

57 


58  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 

to  dwindle.  And  besides  those  whose  names  have  since  become 
well  known,  there  were  others,  young,  gay,  intelligent,  and  well 
bred,  acquaintance  and  familiarity  with  whom  were  in  many  ways 
attractive  to  a  susceptible  youth  like  Isaac  Hecker.  What  im- 
pression he  made  upon  the  circle  he  entered,  how  cordially  he 
was  received  and  held  in  high  esteem,  our  readers  already 
know.  And  if  he  gave  pleasure,  he  received  it  also.  At  first 
the  new  circumstances  were  a  little  strange  and  embarrassing  to 
him.  After  a  fortnight,  or  thereabouts,  we  find  him  noting  that 
he  is  "not  one  cf  their  spirits.  They  say  'Mr.  Hecker'  in 
a  tone  they  do  not  use  in  speaking  to  each  other."  But  the 
strangeness  soon  wore  off,  and  he  yielded  to  the  influence  of  the 
place  with  a  wholeness  which  would  have  been  entire  but  for 
the  stronger  drawing  which  never  let  him  free. 

On  this  point,  too,  the  witness  of  the  journal  is  peremptory. 
So  it  is  as  to  the  unity  and  consistence  of  his  interior  experi- 
ences from  first  to  last.  Child,  and  boy,  and  man,  there  was 
always  the  same  ardent  sincerity  of  purpose  in  him,  the  same 
docility  to  the  Voice  that  spoke  within,  the  same  attitude  to- 
ward "  the  life  that  now  is  "  which  Mr.  Curtis,  in  the  letter 
given  in  the  preceding  chapter,  has  described,  with  so  fine  an 
insight,  as  one  of  reserve  and  observation.  "  He  was  the  dove 
floating  in  the  air,  not  yet  finding  the  spot  on  which  his  foot 
might  rest,"  writes  Mr.  Curtis  of  Isaac  Hecker  at  that  period 
of  his  youth  when  his  surroundings  and  companions  were  for 
the  first  time,  and  very  possibly  for  the  last,  wholly  congenial 
to  his  natural  inclinations.  And  again :  "  There  was  nothing 
ascetic  or  severe  in  him ;  but  I  have  often  thought  since  that 
his  feeling  was  probably  what  he  might  have  afterward  de- 
scribed as  a  consciousness  that  he  must  be  about  his  Father's 
business." 

These  words  are  significant  testimony  to  the  nobility  of  the 
impression  made  on  others  by  Father  Hecker's  personality  in 
early  manhood.  Even  if  our  only  addition  to  such  scanty 
knowledge  of  his  life  at  Brook  Farm  as  could  be  gathered  from 
his  own  conversations  in  later  years  were  this  happily-touched 
sketch,  it  could  hardly  be  more  interesting  than  it  is.  But,  fortu- 
nately, it  does  not  stand  alone.  Its  fine  recognition  of  the  lofty 
purity  of  his  nature  is  everywhere  borne  out  by  the  unpremedi- 
tated and  candid  self-revelations  of  the  diary.  Their  character- 
istic   trait    is    everywhere    aspiration — a  sense  of  joy  in  elevation 


Inner  Life  while  at  Brook  Farm.  59 


above  the  earthly,  or  a  sense  of  depression  because  the  earthly 
weighs  him  down.  Then  come  eager  glances  of  inquiry  in 
every  direction  for  the  satisfaction  of  his  aspirations,  little  by  lit- 
tle narrowing  down  to  the  Catholic  Church,  wherein  the  dove  of 
Mr.  Curtis's  image  was  finally  to  rest  his  foot  for  ever.  And  in 
all  this  he  scarcely  at  all  mentions  a  dread  of  the  Divine  wrath 
as  a  motive  for  his  flight.  It  is  not  out  of  the  city  of  destruction, 
but  toward  the  celestial  city  that  he  goes.  He  is  drawn  by 
what  he  wants,  not  hounded  by  what  he  fears.  Always  there  is 
the  reaching  out  of  a  strong  nature  toward  what  it  lacks — a 
material  for  its  strength  to  work  on,  a  craving  for  rational  joy, 
coupled  with  an  ever-increasing  conviction  that  nature  cannot 
give  him  such  a  boon.  Men  who  knew  Father  Hecker  only  in 
his  royal  maturity,  sometimes  cavilled  at  his  words  of  emphatic 
faith  in  guileless  nature ;  but  they  had  only  to  know  him  a 
little  better  to  learn  his  appreciation  of  the  supernatural  order, 
and  his  recognition  of  its  absolute  and  exclusive  competency  to 
satisfy  nature's  highest  aspirations.  Reading  these  early  journals, 
we  have  constantly  recalled  the  later  days  when  he  so  often, 
and  sometimes  continually,  repeated,  "  Religion  is  a  boon  !  '  No 
one  could  know  that  better  than  he  who  had  so  deeply  felt 
the  want  it  satisfies. 

The  diary  was  begun  in  the  middle  of  April,  1843,  when 
Isaac  had  just  returned  to  Brook  Farm  after  a  fortnight  spent  at 
home.  It  opens  with  a  prayer  for  light  and  direction,  which  is 
its  dedication  to  the  uses  not  only  of  an  earnest  but  a  religious 
seeker.  He  addresses  himself  directly  to  God  as  Father,  not 
making  either  appeal  or  reference  to  our  Lord.  But  there  is  in 
it  an  invocation  to  those  "that  are  in  heaven  to  intercede  and 
plead "  for  him,  which  recalls  the  fact,  so  often  mentioned  by 
him,  that  it  was  the  teaching  of  the  Catechism  of  the  Council 
of  Trent  on  the  Communion  of  Saints  which  cleared  away  his 
final  clouds  and  brought  him  directly  to  the  Church.  There  is 
a  note,  too,  among  his  later  papers,  in  which,  speaking  of  the 
phenomena  of  modern  spiritualism,  he  says  that  the  same  long- 
ing for  an  assurance  of  personal  immortality  which  leads  so 
many  into  that  maze  of  mingled  truth  and  error,  had  a  great 
share  in  disposing  his  mind  to  accept  the  authoritative  doctrine 
of  the  Church,  which  here  as  elsewhere  answered  fully  the 
deepest  longings  of  his  soul. 

We  shall    not    attempt    to    follow    the    chronological  order  of 


60  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 

the  journal  with  exactness,  but  in  making  our  extracts  shall 
pursue  the  order  of  topics  rather  than  of  time.  By  the  middle 
of  April  the  question  of  the  Church  had  presented  itself  so  un- 
mistakably to  Isaac  Hecker,  as  the  necessary  preliminary  to 
further  progress — to  be  settled  in  one  way  or  another,  either 
set  definitely  aside  as  unessential  or  else  accepted  as  the  adequate 
solution  of  man's  problems,  that  his  struggles  for  and  against  it 
recur  with  especial  frequency.  Faber  has  said  somewhere  that 
the  Church  is  the  touchstone  of  rational  humanity,  and  that 
probably  no  adult  passes  out  of  life  without  having  once,  at 
least,  been  brought  squarely  face  to  face  with  it  and  made  to 
understand  and  shoulder  the  tremendous  responsibility  which  its 
claims  impose.  There  would  be  no  need  of  a  touchstone  if  there 
were  no  alloy  in  human  nature,  no  feebleness  in  man's  will,  no 
darkness  in  his  understanding.  Were  that  the  condition  of 
humanity,  the  call  to  the  supernatural  order  would  be  simply 
the  summons  to  come  up  higher,  its  symbol  a  beacon  torch 
upon  the  heights.  As  it  is,  the  path  may  be  mistaken.  He 
whose  feet  have  been  set  in  it  from  birth  by  Christian  training 
may  wilfully  forsake  it.  He  whose  heart  is  pure  and  whose 
aspirations  noble,  may  be  so  surrounded  by  the  mists  of  in- 
herited error  and  misapprehension  that  the  light  of  truth  fails 
to  penetrate  them  when  it  first  dawns.  The  road  is  always  strait 
which  leads  any  son  of  Adam  to  supernal  joy  in  conscious 
union  with  his  Creator,  even  when  his  will  is  good  and  his 
desire  unfeigned. 

We  shall  find,  therefore,  that  Isaac  Hecker's  struggles  were 
many  and  painful  before  he  fully  recognized  and  attained  the 
necessary  means  to  the  end  he  craved.  They  were  character- 
istic also.  He  was  looking  for  the  satisfaction  of  his  rational 
aspirations  rather  than  for  the  solution  of  historical  problems, 
although  his  mind  was  too  clear  not  to  see  that  the  two  are 
inextricably  bound  up  together.  But  inasmuch  as  at  the  period 
of  which  we  are  writing,  which  was  that  of  the  Oxford  Tracts, 
controversy  turned  mainly  on  questions  of  historical  continuity  and 
of  Divine  warrant  in  the  external  revelation  of  holy  Scripture,  it 
follows  that  he,  and  such  as  he,  must  have  taken  a  lonely  and 
unfrequented  road  towards  the  truth.  Every  time  he  looked  at 
the  Church  he  was  greeted  with  the  spectacle  of  unity  and  uni- 
formity, of  discipline  and  order.  These  are  elements  which  always 
have  been,  and    probably   always  will   be,  most  attractive  to    the 


Inner   Life  while  at  Brook  Farm.  61 


classes  called  educated,  to  men  seeking  for  external  notes  of 
truth,  flying  from  disorder,  fearful  of  rebellion.  But  to  Isaac 
Hecker,  the  only  external  note  which  deeply  attracted  him  was 
that  of  universal  brotherhood.  If  he  were  to  bow  his  knee  with 
joy  to  Jesus  Christ,  it  would  be  because  all,  in  heaven  and  earth 
or  hell,  should  one  day  bend  in  union  with  him. 

It  takes  an  intimate  knowledge  of  Catholicity  to  perceive  the 
interior  transformation  of  humanity  by  its  supernatural  aids.  On 
the  one  hand,  the  influence  of  Isaac  Hecker's  Brook  Farm  sur- 
roundings was  to  persuade  him  to  confide  wholly  in  nature,  which 
there  was  very  nearly  at  its  unaided  best.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
treasures  of  Catholicity  for  the  inner  life  were  hidden  from  him. 
Religion,  in  his  conception  of  it — in  the  true  conception  of  it — 
must  be  the  binding  of  all  things  together,  natural  and  super- 
natural. Hence  we  find  him  at  times  complaining  that  the 
Church  is  not  sufficient  for  his  wants.  If  it  were  not  personal 
in  its  adaptation  to  him,  it  was  little  that  it  should  be  histori- 
cal this,  hierarchical  that,  or  biblical  the  other.  It  must  be  his 
primarily,  because  he  cannot  live  a  rational  and  pure  life  with- 
out it.  An  ordinarily  decorous  life,  if  you  will ;  free  from  lust 
or  passion,  and  without  gross  unreason,  but  nevertheless  tame,  un- 
progressive,  dry  and  unproductive,  without  any  absolute  certainty 
except  that  of  the  helplessness  of  man.  Such  a  life  seemed  to 
him  hardly  more  than  a  synonym  for  death.  "  The  fact  is,"  as 
he  writes  on  a  page  now  lying  before  us,  "  I  want  to  live  every 
moment.  I  want  something  positive,  living,  nourishing.  I  nega- 
tive only  by  affirming." 

The  earliest  entry  in  this  diary  has  been  already  quoted  in 
the  first  chapter  of  the  present  biography.  On  its  second  page 
occurs  the  following  account  of  his  impressions  while  in  church 
on  Easter  Sunday : 

"  Monday,  April  17,  1843. — Yesterday  I  went  to  the  Catholic 
church  at  West  Roxbury.  It  was  Easter  Sunday.  The  services 
were,  to  me,  very  impressively  affecting.  The  altar-piece  repre- 
sented Christ's  rising  from  the  tomb,  and  this  was  the  subject- 
matter  of  the  priest's  sermon.  In  the  midst  of  it  he  turned  and 
pointed  to  the  painting,  with  a  few  touching  words.  All  eyes 
followed  his,  which  made  his  remarks  doubly  affecting.  How 
inspiring  it  must  be  to  the  priest,  when  he  is  preaching,  to  see 
around  him  the  Saviour,  and  the  goodly  company  of  martyrs, 
saints,  and  fathers!    There  may  be  objections  to  having  paintings 


62  The  Life  of  FatJier  Hecker. 


and  sculptures  in  churches,  but  I  confess  that  I  never  enter  a 
place  where  there  is  either  but  I  feel  an  awe,  an  invisible  in- 
fluence, which  strikes  me  mute.  I  wrould  sit  in  silence,  covering 
my  head.  A  sanctified  atmosphere  seems  to  fill  the  place  and  to 
penetrate  my  soul  when  I  enter,  as  if  I  were  in  a  holy  temple. 
'  Thou  standest  in  a  holy  place,'  I  would  say.  A  loud  word, 
a  heavy  footstep,  makes  me  shudder,  as  if  an  infidel  were  dese- 
crating the  place.  I  stand  speechless,  in  a  magical  atmosphere 
that  wraps  my  whole  being,  scarcely  daring  to  lift  my  eyes.  A 
perfect  stillness  comes  over  my  soul;  it  seems  to  be  soaring  on 
the  bosom  of  clouds." 

"  Tuesday,  April  18. — I  confess  that  either  the  Church  is  not 
sufficient  for  my  wants  or  I  have  not  seen  it  in  its  glory.  I 
hope  it  may  be  the  latter.  I  do  not  want  to  say  it,  but  I 
must  own  that  it  fills  me  no  more.  I  contemplate  it,  I  look  at 
it,  I  comprehend  it.  It  does  not  lead  me  to  aspire.  I  feel  that 
either  it  has  nothing  to  give,  or  that  what  it  has  is  not  that 
for  which  my  soul  is  aching  I  know  it  can  be  said,  in  reply 
that  I  cannot  know  what  the  Church  has  until  I  am  in  com- 
munion with  it ;  that  it  satisfies  natures  greater  than  mine  ;  that 
it  is  the  true  life  of  the  world;  that  there  is  no  true  spirituality 
outside  of  it,  and  that  before  I  can  judge  it  rightly  my  life 
must  be  equal  to  it  in  purity  and  elevation.  Much  more  might 
be  said.  But,  after  all,  what  is  it  ?  The  Catholic  shows  up  the 
Anglican ;  the  Anglican  retorts  with  an  accusation  of  corruption, 
and  even  a  want  of  purity ;  the  Protestant,  the  Presbyterian, 
claim  their  own  mission  at  the  expense  of  consistency  and  good 
logic.     . 

"The  whole  fact,  I  suppose,  is  that  if  there  is  anything  in 
Succession,  Tradition,  Infallibility,  Church  organism  and  form,  it  is 
in  the  Catholic  Church,  and  our  business  will  be  to  stop  this 
controversy  and  call  an  Ecumenical  Council  which  shall  settle 
these  matters  according  to  the  Bible,  Tradition,  and  the  light  of 
the  Church." 

There  is  a  touch  of  unconscious  humor  in  the  final  para- 
graph which  clamored  for  quotation.  But  it  was  plainly  written 
in  profound  earnest. 

"  Thursday,  April  20. — My  soul  is  disquieted,  my  heart  aches. 

Tears    flow    from    my    eyes    involuntarily.       My    soul    is 

grieved — for  what  ?      Yesterday,  as    I    was    praying,   the    thought 

flashed  across  my  mind,  Where  is  God  ?    Is  He  not  here  ?    Why 


Inner   Life  while  at  Brook  Farm.  63 

prayest  thou  as  if  He  were  at  a  great  distance  from  thee  ?  Think 
of  it.  Where  canst  thou  place  Him — in  what  locality  ?  Is  He 
not  here  in  thy  midst?  Is  His  presence  not  nearest  of  all  to 
thee  ?     Oh,  think  of  it  !      God  is  here. 

"  Am  I  impious  to  say  that  the  language  used  in  Scripture 
for  Christ's  expresses  the  thoughts  of  my  soul  ?  Oh,  could  we 
but  understand  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  always  at  hand 
to  the  discerncr,  and  that  God  calls  upon  all  to  '  Repent,  for  ye 
shall  not  all  disappear  until  it  shall  open.  This  generation  shall 
not  pass  away.' " 

Then  follows  a  page  of  philosophizing  on  time  and  eternity, 
immensity  and  space,  and  "monads  who  may  develop  or  fulfil 
their  destiny  in  other  worlds  than  this,"  a  reminiscence,  perhaps, 
of  the  lectures  on  such  topics  at  which  Mr.  Curtis  says  Isaac 
used  to  "look  in,"  hoping  to  "find  an  answer  to  his  questions." 
Such  speculations  are  a  trait  throughout  the  diary,  though  they 
are  everywhere  subordinate  to  the  practical  ends  which  domi- 
nantly  interest  him.  A  day  or  two  later  comes  a  passage, 
already  given  in  a  preceding  chapter,  in  reference  to  certain 
prophetic  dreams  which  it  has  been  given  him  to  see  realized. 
And  at  once  this  follows  : 

"April  24,  Noon. — The  Catholic  Church  alone  seems  to  satisfy 
my  wants,  my  faith,  life,  soul.  These  may  be  baseless  fabrics, 
chimeras  dire,  or  what  you  please.  I  may  be  laboring  under  a 
delusion.  Yet  my  soul  is  Catholic,  and  that  faith  responds  to  my 
soul  in  its  religious  aspirations  and  its  longings.  I  have  not 
wished  to  make  myself  Catholic,  but  that  answers  on  all  sides 
to  the  wants  of  my  soul.  It  is  so  rich,  so  full.  One  is  in 
harmony  all  over — in  unison  with  heaven,  with  the  present, 
living  in  the  natural  body,  and  the  past,  who  have  changed. 
There  is  a  solidarity  between  them  through  the  Church.  I  do 
not  feel  controversial.      My  soul  is  filled." 

From  this  point  he  speedily  recedes.  By  the  next  day  he  is 
"  lost  almost  in  the  flesh "  ;  "  fallen  into  an  identity  with  my 
body,"  and  notes  that  for  some  time  he  has  "  done  little  in  study, 
but  feel  that  I  have  lived  very  much."  What  hinders  him 
he  supposes  to  be  "  contemplating  any  certain  amount  of  study 
which  I  ought  to  accomplish — looking  to  it  as  an  end.  Why 
should  I  not  be  satisfied  when  I  am  living,  growing  ?  Did 
Christ  and  His  apostles  study  languages  ?  I  have  the  life — is 
not  that  the  end  ?  " 


64  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

"April  28. — What  shall  I  say?  Am  I  wrong?  Should  I 
submit  and  give  myself  up  to  that  which  does  not  engage  my 
whole  being  ?  To  me  the  Church  is  not  the  great  object  of  life. 
I  am  now  out  of  it  in  the  common  meaning.  I  am  not  subject 
to  its  ordinances.  Is  it  not  best  for  me  to  accept  my  own 
nature  rather  than  attempt  to  mould  it  as  though  it  were  an 
object  ?  Is  not  our  own  existence  more  than  this  existence  in 
the  world  ? 

"  I  read  this  morning  an  extract  from  Heine  upon  Schelling 
which  affected  me  more  than  anything  I  have  read  for  six 
months.  The  Church,  says  Schelling  in  substance,  was  first  Pet- 
rine,  then  Pauline,  and  must  be  love-embracing,  John-like. 
Peter,  Catholicism  ;  Paul,  Protestantism  ;  John,  what  is  to  be.  The 
statement  struck  me  and  responded  to  my  own  dim  intuitions. 
Catholicism  is  solidarity;  Protestantism  is  individuality.  What 
we  want,  and  are  tending  to,  is  what  shall  unite  them  both,  as 
John's  spirit  does — and  that  in  each  individual.  We  want 
neither  the  authority  of  History  nor  of  the  Individual ;  neither 
Infallibility  nor  Reason  by  itself,  but  both  combined  in  Life. 
Neither  Precedent  nor  Opinion,  but  Being — neither  a  written 
nor  a  preached  Gospel,  but  a  living  one.   .   .   . 

"It  is  only  through  Christ  we  can  see  the  love,  goodness,  and 
wisdom  of  God.  He  is  to  us  what  the  telescope  is  to  the 
astronomer,  with  this  difference  :  He  so  exalts  and  purifies  us 
that  our  subject  becomes  the  power  to  see.  The  telescope  is 
a  medium  through  which  the  boundaries  of  our  vision  are  en- 
larged, but  it  is  passive.  Christ  is  an  active  Mediator  who  be- 
gets us  if  we  will,  and  gives  us  power  to  see  by  becoming  one 
with  Him." 

"May  3. — We  all  look  upon  this  world  as  «suits  our  moods, 
assimilating  only  such  food  as  suits  our  dispositions — and  no 
doubt  there  is  sufficient  variety  to  suit  all.  .  .  .  Every  personality 
individualizes  the  world  to  himself,  not  subjectively  but  truly 
objectively.  .  .  .  Every  individual  ought,  perhaps,  to  be  satisfied 
with  his  own  character.  For  it  is  an  important  truth  of 
Fourier's  that  attractions  are  in  proportion  to  destinies.  Fear  in 
proportion  to  hope,  pain  in  proportion  to  pleasure,  strength  in 
proportion  to  destiny,  etc.  But  it  is  mysterious  that  we  know 
all  this.     '  Man  has  become  as  one  of  us.'     We  are  all  dead. 

"  Ah,  mystic  !  dost  thou  show  thyself  in  this  shape  ?  But 
now,  being    dead,  shall    we    receive    life    and    immortality    (for  I 


Inner   Life  while  at  Brook  Farm.  65 


imagine  immortality  the  solidarity  of  life — i.  c,  the  union  of  the 
two  lives,  here  and  heaven)  through  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  the 
living  God,  and  so  lose  'the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil.'  'For 
a9  in  Adam  all  died,  so  shall  ye  all  be  made  alive  through 
Jesus  Christ.'  The  effect  of  the  fall  was  literally  the  knowledge 
of  good  and  evil.  God  knows  no  evil,  and  when  we  become 
one  with  Him,  through  the  Mediator,  we  shall  regain  our  pre- 
vious state.  Knowledge  is  the  effect  of  sin,  and  is  perhaps 
destined  to  correct  itself.  Consciousness  and  knowledge  go  to- 
gether. Spontaneity  and  life  are  one.  Knowledge  is  no  gain, 
for  it  gives  nothing.  I  can  only  know  what  has  been  given 
through  spontaneity.  Spontaneity  is  unity,  one ;  knowledge  is 
division  of  being.  If  Adam  had  not  been  separated  he  would 
doubtless  not  have  sinned.  'The  woman  that  Thou  gavest  me 
said  unto  me,  Eat,  and  I  did  eat'  Still,  through  the  seed  of 
the  woman,  which  will  be  the  union  restored,  is  the  serpent  to 
be  bruised." 

"  May  4. — The  real  effect  of  the  theory  of  the  Church  is  to 
isolate  men  from  the  outward  world,  withdraw  them  from  its 
enjoyments,  and  make  them  live  a  life  of  sacrifice  of  the  pas- 
sions. This  is  one  statement.  Another  would  be  this :  All  these 
things  can  and  should  be  enjoyed,  but  in  a  higher,  purer,  more 
exalted  state  of  being  than  is  the  present  ordinary  condition  of 
our  minds.  The  only  opposition  to  them  arises  when  the  soul 
becomes  sensual,  falls  into  their  arms,  and  becomes  lost  to 
higher  and  more  spiritual  objects.   .   .   . 

"  All  is  dark  before  me,  impenetrable  darkness.  I  appear  to 
live  in  the  centre.  Nothing  seems  to  take  hold  of  my  soul,  or 
else  it  seeks  nothing.  Where  it  is  I  know  not.  I  meet  with  no  one 
else  around  me.  I  would  that  I  could  feel  that  some  one  lived  in 
the  same  world  that  I  now  do.  Something  cloudy  separates 
us.  I  cannot  speak  from  my  real  being  to  others.  There  is  no 
mutual  recognition.  When  I  speak,  it  is  as  if  a  burden  accu- 
mulated round  me.  I  long  to  throw  it  off,  but  I  cannot  utter 
my  thoughts  and  feelings  in  their  presence;  if  I  do,  they  return 
to  me  unrecognized.  Shall  I  ever  meet  with  one  the  windows 
of  whose  soul  will  open  simultaneously  with  mine  ?  " 

On  the  first  Sunday  of  May  Isaac  went  into  Boston  to  hear 
Brownson  preach,  and  a  day  or  two  later  made  the  subjoined 
shrewd  comments  on  the  sermon  in  a  letter  to  his  mother: 

"  May  9,   '43. — His  intention    is    to  preach  the  Catholic   doc- 


66  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

trine  and  administer  the  Sacraments.  How  many  of  them,  I 
suppose,  depends  on  circumstances.  He  justifies  himself  on  the 
ground  that  he  that  is  not  against  us  is  for  us,  and  that  in 
times  of  exigency,  and  in  extraordinary  cases,  we  may  do  what 
we  could  not  be  excused  for  doing  otherwise.  And  he  thinks 
by  proclaiming  the  Catholic  faith  and  repudiating  the  attempt 
to  build  up  a  Church,  that  in  time  the  Protestant  world  will  be- 
come Catholic  in  its  dispositions,  so  that  a  unity  will  be  made 
without  submission  or  sacrifice.  Under  present  circumstances  it 
would  be  impossible,  even  if  the  Protestant  churches  should  be 
willing  to  unite  with  the  Catholic,  that  the  Catholic  could  even 
supply  priests  for  forty  millions  of  Protestants,  the  Protestant 
priests  being  most  of  them  married,  etc. 

"  I  confess  the  sermon  was  wholly  unsatisfactory  to  me,  un- 
catholic  in  its  premises,  and  many  of  his  arguments  and  facts 
chimerical  and  illusive.  If  you  grant  that  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  is  the  true  Church,  there  is,  to  my  thought,  no  stopping- 
place  short  of  its  bosom.  Or  even  if  it  is  the  nearest  to  the 
truth,  you  are  under  obligations  to  join  it.  How  any  one  can 
believe  in  either  one  of  those  propositions,  as  O.  A.  B.  does, 
without  becoming  a  Catholic  in  fact,  I  cannot  conceive.  This 
special  pleading  of  exceptions,  the  necessity  of  the  case,  and 
improbable  suppositions,  springs  more,  I  think,  from  the  position 
of  the  individual  than  from  the  importance  or  truth  of  the  argu- 
ments made  use  of.  Therefore  I  think  he  will  give  up  in  time 
the  ground  upon  which  he  now  supports  his  course — not  the 
object  but  his  position.  ...  I  have  bought  a  few  Catholic  books 
in  Boston  which  treat  upon  the  Anglican  claims  to  Catholicity, 
and  I  think  I  can  say,  so  far,  I  never  shall  join  a  Protestant 
Church — while  I  am  not  positive  on  the  positive  side,  nor  even 
in  any  way  as  yet  decided." 


CHAPTER   VII. 

STRUGGLES. 

I^HE  citations  thus  far  made  from  Isaac  Hecker's  youthful 
diary,  although  penned  at  Brook  Farm,  bear  few  traces  of 
that  fact.  They  might  have  been  written  in  a  desert  for  all  evi- 
dence they  give  of  any  special  influence  produced  upon  him  by 
personal  contact  with  others.  It  is  not  until  the  middle  of  May, 
1843,  that  he  begins  to  make  any  reference  to  his  actual  sur- 
roundings. 

Before  following  him  into  these  more  intimate  self-confi- 
dences, and  especially  before  giving  in  his  own  words  an  ac- 
count of  that  peculiar  occurrence  which  so  permanently  affected 
his  future,  some  preliminary  remarks  seem  necessary. 

It  has  been  said  already,  in  an  earlier  chapter  of  this  biogra- 
phy, that  but  for  some  special  intervention  of  Divine  Providence, 
it  is  more  than  probable  that  Isaac  Hecker  would  have  led  the 
ordinary  life  of  men  in  the  world,  continuing,  indeed,  to  cherish 
a  high  ideal  of  the  duties  of  the  citizen  of  a  free  country,  but 
pursuing  it  along  well-beaten  ways.  There  is  no  doubt  that, 
unless  some  such  event  as  he  has  narrated,  or  some  influence 
equivalent  to  it  in  effect,  had  supernaturally  drawn  him  away,  he 
would  of  his  own  volition  have  sought  what  he  was  repeatedly 
advised  to  seek  by  his  most  attached  friends,  a  congenial  union  in 
wedlock.  He  was  naturally  susceptible,  and  his  attachments  were 
not  only  firm,  but  often  seemed  obstinate.  Of  celibacy  he  had, 
up  to  this  time,  no  other  idea  than  such  as  the  common  run  of 
non-Catholics  possess.  At  home,  indeed,  when  afterwards  pressed 
to  seek  a  wife,  he  had  answered,  truly  enough,  though  holding 
fast  to  his  secret,  that  he  "  had  no  thought  of  marrying  and  felt 
an  aversion  to  company  for  such  an  end."  And  again  he  writes 
to  his  mother,  anxious  and  troubled  for  his  future,  that  the 
circle  which  surrounded  him  in  New  York  oppressed  and  con- 
tracted him,  and  abridged  his  liberty.  There  was  no  one  in  it 
who   "  increased  his  life." 

But  at  Brook  Farm  he  met  some  one,  as  is  revealed  by  his 
diary  and  correspondence,  who  deeply  attracted  him,  and  who 
might  have  attracted  him  as  far  as  marriage  had  he  not  already 
received  the  Holy  Spirit's  prevenient  grace  of  virginity.  That  is 
to    say,  he    found   "a  being,"  to  use    his  impersonal    term,  whose 

67 


68  The  Life  of  Fatlicr  Heckcr. 

name  and  identity  he  is  careful  to  veil,  awkwardly  enough  at 
times  with  misleading  pronouns,  whose  charm  was  so  great  as 
to  win  from  him  what  would  have  been,  in  his  normal  state,  a 
marital  affection.  But  he  was  no  longer  normal.  Although  still 
beyond  the  visible  pale  of  that  garden  of  elect  souls,  God's 
holy  Church,  he  was  already  transformed  by  the  quickening 
grace  which  "  reaches  from  end  to  end  mightily  and  orders  all 
things  sweetly."  Our  next  quotations  afford  explicit  proof  on 
this  point : 

"  Tuesday,  May  16. — Life  appears  to  be  a  perpetual  struggle 
between  the  heavenly  and  the  worldly. 

"  Here  at  Brook  Farm  I  become  acquainted  with  persons 
who  have  moved  in  a  higher  rank  in  society  than  I — persons  of 
good  education  and  fine  talents  ;  all  of  which  has  an  improving 
influence  on  me.  And  I  meet  with  those  to  whom  I  can  speak, 
and  feel  that,  to  a  great  degree,  I  am  understood  and  responded 
to.  In  New  York  I  am  alone  in  the  midst  of  people.  I  am 
not  in  any  internal  sense  en  rapport  with  them. 

"  I  suppose  the  reason  why  I  do  not,  in  my  present  state, 
feel  disposed  to  connect  myself  with  any  being,  and  would  rather 
avoid  a  person  whom  I  was  conscious  I  might  or  could  love,  is 
that  I  feel  my  life  to  be  in  a  rapid  progress,  and  that  no  step 
now  would  be  a  permanent  one.  I  am  afraid  the  choice  I  would 
have  made  some  time  since  {if  there  had  not  been  something 
deeply  secret  in  my  being  which  prevented  me)  would  now  be 
very  unsatisfactory.  I  feel  conscious  there  could  not  have  been 
an  equal  and  mutual  advance,  because  the  natures  of  some  are 
not  capable  of  much  growth.  And  I  mistrust  whether  there 
would  not  have  been  an  inequality,  hence  disharmony  and  un- 
happiness. 

"  To  be  required  to  accept  your  past  is  most  unpleasant. 
Perhaps  the  society  with  which  I  was  surrounded  did  not  afford 
a  beincr  that  unified  with  mine  own.  And  I  have  faith  that 
there  are  spiritual  laws  beneath  all  this  outward  framework  of 
sight  and  sense,  which  will,  if  rightly  believed  in  and  trusted, 
lead  to  the  goal  of  eternal  life,  harmony  of  being,  and  union 
with  God.  So  I  accept  my  being  led  here.  Am  I  superstitious 
or  egoistic  in  believing  this  ?  This  is,  no  doubt,  disputed  terri- 
tory. Have  we  any  objective  rule  to  compare  our  faith  with 
which  would  give  us  the  measure  of  our  superstition  ?  How  much 
of  to-day  would  have  seemed    miraculous  or  superstitious  to  the 


Struggles.  69 

past  ?     I    confess  I  have   no   rule  or   measure    to   judge    the    faith 
of  any  man. 

"  The  past  is  always  the  state  of  infancy.  The  present  is  an 
eternal  youth,  aspiring  after  manhood  ;  hoping  wistfully,  intensely 
desiring,  listfully  listening,  dimly  seeing  the  bright  star  of  hope 
in  the  future,  beckoning  him  to  move  rapidly  on,  while  his 
strong  heart  beats  with  enthusiasm  and  glowing  joy.  The  past 
is  dead.  Wish  me  not  the  dead  from  the  grave,  for  that  would 
be  death  re-enacted. 

"  Oh,  were  our  wishes  in  harmony  with  heaven,  how  changed 
would  be  the  scenes  of  our  life  !  .  .  .  This  accordance  would 
be  music  which  only  the  angels  now  hear — too  delicate  for  be- 
ings such  as  we  are  at  present.  List !  hast  thou  not  heard  in 
some  bright  moment  a  strain  from  heaven's  angelic  choirs  ?  Oh, 
yes  !  In  our  sleep  the  angels  have  whispered  such  rich  music, 
and  the  soul  being  then  passive,  we  can  hear.  And  the  pleasure 
does  not  leave  us  when  passion  and  thought  take  their  accus- 
tomed course. 

"  O  man  !  were  thy  soul  more  pure,  what  a  world  would 
open  to  thy  inner  senses  !  There  would  be  no  moment  of  thy 
existence  but  would  be  filled  with  the  music  of  love.  The 
prophet  said  :  '  In  that  day  my  eyes  were  opened.'  And  behold 
what  he  saw  !  He  saw  it.  Could  we  but  hear !  The  word  of 
the  Lord  is  ever  speaking — alas  !  where  is  one  that  can  hear  ? 
Where  are  our  Isaiahs,  our  Ezekiels,  our  Jeremiahs  ?  Oh  !  thou 
shrunken-visaged,  black,  hollow-eyed  doubt !  hast  thou  passed  like 
a  cloud  over  men's  souls,  making  them  blind,  deaf,  and  dumb  ? 
Ah,  ha  !  dost  thou  shudder  ?  I  chant  thy  requiem,  and  prophets, 
poets,  and  seers  shall  rise  again  !  I  see  them  coming.  Great 
heaven !  Earth  shall  be  again  a  paradise,  and  God  converse 
with  men  !  " 

The  next  entry  is  undated,  but  it  was  probably  made  on 
the  last  day  of  May.  It  has  served  to  fix  the  proximate  time 
of  the  illness  and  disquiet  which  led  to  his  first  withdrawal  from 
business  and  home. 

"  Wednesday. — About  ten  months  ago — perhaps  only  seven 
or  eight — I  saw  (I  cannot  say  I  dreamed  ;  it  was  quite  different 
from  dreaming ;  I  was  seated  on  the  side  of  my  bed)  a  beau- 
tiful, angelic  being,  and  myself  standing  alongside  of  her,  feel- 
ing a  most  heavenly  pure  joy.  It  was  as  if  our  bodies  were 
luminous   and    gave  forth    a    moon-like    light   which    sprung  from 


7o  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 


the  joy  we  experienced.  I  felt  as  if  we  had  always  lived 
together,  and  that  our  motions,  actions,  feelings,  and  thoughts 
came  from  one  centre.  When  I  looked  towards  her  I  saw  no 
bold  outline  of  form,  but  an  angelic  something  I  cannot  describe, 
though  in  angelic  shape  and  image.  It  zvas  this  picture  that  has 
left  such  an  indelible  impression  on  my  mind.  For  some  time 
afterward  I  continued  to  feel  the  same  influence,  and  do  now 
so  often  that  the  actual  around  me  has  lost  its  hold.  In  my 
state  previous  to  this  vision  I  should  have  been  married  ere 
this,  for  there  are  those  I  have  since  seen  who  would  have 
met  the  demands  of  my  mind.  But  now  this  vision  continu- 
ally hovers  over  me  and  prevents  me,  by  its  beauty,  from 
accepting  any  one  else ;  for  I  am  charmed  by  its  influence, 
and  conscious  that,  should  I  accept  any  other,  I  should  lose 
the    life    which    would    be    the    only  one    wherein    I  could   say  I 

live." 

Those    of    our    readers    who    are    either   versed    in    mystical 
theology  or  who    have  any  wide    knowledge  of  the    lives   of  the 
Church's  more  interior  saints,  with  neither  of  which  Isaac  Hecker 
had    at    this  time    any    acquaintance,    will    be    apt    to  recall    here 
St.    Francis    of    Assisi    and     his    bride,    the     Lady    Poverty,    the 
similar    occurrences    related    by  Henry    Suso  of  himself,   and    the 
mystic    espousals    of    St.    Catharine.      We    have    in   this    relation 
not  only  the    plainly  avowed    reason    why    he    accepted    the  celi- 
bate   life,  even    before    entering    the  Church    or    arriving    at    any 
clear    understanding  of   his    duty   to  do  so,  but    we    have    some- 
thing more.     Not  yet  certain  of  his  own  vocation,  the  dream  of 
a    virginal     apostolate,     including    the    two    sexes,     had     already 
absorbed    his    yearnings,    never    again    to    be    forgotten.      Neither 
priest  nor   Catholic,  save    in  the    as    yet  unrevealed    ordinance  of 
God,  he    was    no    longer  free    to  invite    any  woman    to   marriage, 
no    matter    how    deeply    he    might    be    sensible    of   her  feminine 
attraction.       The     union    of    souls  ?      Yes ;    for    uses    worthy   of 
souls.      The    union    of    bodies  ?      No  ;    that    would    only    clip    his 
wings  and   narrow  his    horizon.      Thenceforward    the    test  of    true 
kinship    with    him    could    only     be     a    kindred    aspiration     after 
union  in  liberty  from    merely  natural    trammels,   in  order  to  tend 
more  surely  to  a  supernatural  end. 

This  may  seem  to  some  a  strange  beginning  to  a  life  so 
simply  and  entirely  set  apart  from  the  active,  or,  at  least,  public 
union    of   the    sexes    in    aoostolic    labors.       Strange    or    not,    the 


Struggles.  7 1 

reader  will  see  it  to  be  more  true  as  this  biography  proceeds, 
and  its  writer  is  not  conscious  of  any  reluctance  to  make  it 
known.  Such  an  integral  supernatural  mission  to  men  was  what 
he  ever  after  desired  and  sought  to  establish,  though  he  only 
attained  success  on  the  male  side.  We  cannot  deny  that  this 
diary,  surprising  to  us  in  many  ways,  was  most  so  in  this 
particular,  although  in  this  particular  we  found  the  explanation 
of  many  words  spoken  by  Father  Hecker  in  his  maturity  and 
old  age,  words  the  most  sober  and  the  most  decided  we  ever 
heard  from  him.  He  never  for  an  hour  left  out  of  view  the 
need  of  women  for  any  great  work  of  religion,  though  he 
doubtless  made  very  sure  of  his  auditor  before  unveiling  his 
whole  thought.  He  never  made  so  much  as  a  serious  attempt 
to  incorporate  women  with  his  work,  but  he  never  ceased  to 
look  around  and  to  plan  with  a  view  to  doing  so.  Among  the 
personal  memoranda  already  mentioned  are  found  evidences  of 
this  so  direct,  and  corroborated  by  such  recent  facts,  that  they 
cannot  be  used  until  the  lapse  of  time  shall  have  made  an 
extension  of  this  life  as  well  possible  as  necessary. 

"June  i. — One  cannot  live  a  spiritual  life  in  the  world 
because  it  requires  so  much  labor  to  supply  food  and  clothing 
that  what  is  inward  and  eternal  has  to  be  given  up  for  the 
material  and  life  in  time.  If  one  has  to  sustain  himself  at 
Brook  Farm  without  other  means  to  aid  him,  he  must  employ 
his  strength  to  that  degree  that  he  has  no  time  for  the  culture 
of  the  spiritual.  I  cannot  remain  and  support  myself  without 
becoming  subject  to  the  same  conditions  as  existed  at  home.  I 
cannot  expect  them  to  be  willing  to  lessen  their  present  ex- 
penses much  for  the  sake  of  gaining  time  for  spiritual  culture ; 
nor  do  I  see  how  I  can  at  home  live  with  my  relatives  and  have 
the  time  which  I  require.  I  see  no  way  but  to  give  up  the 
taste  for  fine  clothing  and  variety  in  food.  I  would  prefer  the 
life  of  the  monastery  to  that  of  the  external  world.  The  advan- 
tages for  my  being  are  greater.  The  harmony  of  the  two  is 
the  full  and  perfect  existence  ;  but  the  spiritual  should  always 
be  preserved  at  the  expense  of  the  other,  which  is  contrary  to 
the  tendency  of  the  world,  and  perhaps  even  to  that  of  this  place. 
I  would  prefer  going  hungry  in  body  than  in  soul.  I  am 
speaking  against  neither,  for  I  believe  in  the  fulness  of  life,  in 
amply  supplying  all  its  wants  ;  but  the  kingdom  of  God  is  more 
to  me  than  this  world.      I  would    be  Plato  in  love,  Zeno  in   self- 


72  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

strength,  and  Epicurus  in  aesthetics ;  but  if  T  have  to  sacrifice 
either,  let  Epicurus  go." 

"June  12. — At  times  I  have  an  impulse  to  cry  out,  'What 
wouldst  Thou  have  me  to  do?'  I  would  shout  up  into  the 
empty  vault  of  heaven  :  '  Ah,  why  plaguest  Thou  me  so  ?  What 
shall  I  do  ?  Give  me  an  answer  unless  Thou  wilt  have  me 
consumed  by  inward  fire,  drying  up  the  living  liquid  of  life. 
Wouldst  Thou  have  me  to  give  up  all  ?  I  have.  I  have  no 
dreams  to  realize.  I  want  nothing,  have  nothing,  and  am  will- 
ing to  die  in  any  way.  What  ties  I  have  are  few,  and  can  be 
cut  with  a  groan.'  " 

"  Monday,  June  26. — Solomon  said,  after  he  had  tasted  all 
the  joys  of  the  world,  '  Vanity  of  vanities,  all  is  vanity.'  I,  my 
friend,  who  have  scarcely  tasted  any  of  the  pleasures  of  the 
world,  would  say  with  Solomon,  '  All  is  vanity.'  I  see  nothing 
in  which  I  can  work.  All  are  vanities,  shadows ;  beneath  all 
there  is  nothing.  Great  God  !  what  is  all  this  for  ?  Why  tor- 
ment and  pain  me  so  ?  Why  is  all  this  action  a  profanity  to 
me  ?     And  even  holiness,  what  is  it  ? 

"  Oh !  I  am  dumb ;  my  soul  is  inarticulate.  There  is  that 
in  me  which  I  would  pour  out.  Oh  !  why  is  it  that  the  noblest 
actions  of  humanity  speak  not  to  my  soul  ?  All  life  is  inade- 
quate— but  not  in  the  sense  of  the  world.  I  would  joyfully  be 
silent,  obscure,  dead  to  all  the  world,  if  this  alone  which  is 
in  me  had  life.  I  ask  not  for  name,  riches,  external  conditions 
of  delight  or  splendor.  No ;  the  meanest  of  all  would  be 
heaven  to  me,  if  this  inward  impulse  had  action,  lived  itself 
out.  But  no ;  I  am  imprisoned  in  spirit.  What  imprisons  ? 
What  is  imprisoned  ?     Who  can  tell? 

"You  say,  good  adviser,  'You  must  accept  things  as  they 
are — be  content  to  be  ;  have  faith  in  God  ;  do  that  work  which 
your  hands  find  to  do.'  Good  ;  but  it  is  taken  for  granted  we 
know  what  things  are — which  is  the  question.  '  Be  content  to 
be.'  Be  what?  'Have  faith  in  God.'  Yes.  'Work?'  Yes; 
but  how?  Like  others.  But  this  is  not  work  to  me;  it  is 
death  ;  nay,  worse — it  is  sin  ;  hence,  damnation — and  I  am  not 
ready  to  go  to  hell  yet.  Your  work  gives  me  no  activity ;  and 
to  starve,  if  I  must,  is  better  than  to  do  the  profane,  the  sacri- 
legious labor  you  place  before  me.  I  want  God's  living  work 
to  do.  My  labor  must  be  a  sermon,  every  motion  of  my  body 
a    word,  every  act  a  sentence.      My  work  must  be  devotional.      I 


Struggles.  73 

must  feci  that  I  am  worshipping.  It  must  be  music,  love, 
prayer.  My  field  must  be  the  kingdom  of  God.  Christ  must 
reign  in  all.  It  must  be  Christ  doing  in  me,  and  not  vie.  My 
life  must  be  poetical,  divine.  Head,  heart,  and  hands  must  be 
a  trinity  in  unity  ;  they  must  tone  in  one  accord.  My  work 
must  be  work  of  inspiration  and  aspiration.  My  heart  cannot  be 
in  heaven  when  my  head  and  hands  are  in  hell.  I  must  feel  that 
I  am  building  up  Christ's  kingdom  in  all  that  I  do.  To  give 
Christ  room  for  action  in  my  heart,  soul,  and  body  is  my  de- 
sire, my  aim,  purpose,  being.     .      .     . 

"  It  is  not  he  who  goes  to  church,  says  his  prayers,  sings 
psalms,  says  '  Lord,  Lord,'  who  is  in  God  and  establishing  His 
kingdom.  No  ;  it  is  he  who  is  doing  it.  The  earth  is  to  be 
His  kingdom,  and  your  prayers  must  be  deeds,  your  actions 
music  ascending  to  heaven.  The  Church  must  be  the  kingdom 
of  God  in  its  fulness. 

"  Are  we  Christians  if  we  act  not  in  the  spirit  in  which 
Christ  acted  ?  Shall  we  say :  '  What  shall  we  do  ? '  Follow 
the  spirit  of  Christ  which  is  in  you.  '  Unless  ye  are  repro- 
bates, ye  have  it  in  you.'  '  Be  ye  faithful,  as  I  am,'  said 
Jesus.  '  Love  one  another  as  I  have  loved  you.'  Take  up 
your  cross  and  follow  Him.  Leave  all,  if  the  Spirit  leads  you 
to  leave  all.  Do  whatever  it  commands  you.  There  will  be  no 
lack  of  action.  Care  not  for  the  world  ;  give  up  wealth,  friends, 
those  that  you  love,  the  opinions  of  all.  Be  willing  to  be  de- 
spised, spit  upon,  crucified.  Be  silent,  and  let  your  silence 
speak  for  you." 

It  is  plain  that  what  Isaac  Hecker  is  here  condemning  is 
the  life  of  the  world,  wholly  ordinary  in  its  aims  and  motives. 
It  is  not  to  be  understood  as  a  condemnation  of  the  common 
lot  of  men,  or  of  that  life  in  itself.  It  was  only  as  he  saw  it 
over  against  his  own  vocation  to  something  higher  that  it  be- 
came repulsive,  nay  guilty  to  him.  Nor  was  he  even  yet  so 
settled  in  his  view  of  the  contrasted  worth  of  the  two  careers 
between  which  he  had  to  choose,  as  to  be  quite  free  from  pain- 
ful struggles.  In  the  entry  made  on  the  day  preceding  this 
outburst,  he  once  more  recurs  to  the  subject  of  marriage  : 

"  Monday  Evening,  June  26. — This  evening  the  same  advice 
that  has  been  given  me  before,  first  by  the  doctor  who  at- 
tended me,  next  by  my  dearest  friend,  was  given  me  again 
by  a  man  who  now  resides  here." 


74  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

"  Tuesday  Morning,  June  27. — Rather  than  follow  this  ad- 
vice, I  would  die.  I  should  be  miserable  all  my  life.  Nay, 
death  before  this.  These  men  appear  to  me  as  natural  men, 
but  not  in  the  same  life  as  mine.  They  are  older,  have  more  ex- 
perience and  more  judgment  than  I,  perhaps  ;  but  considering  the 
point  of  view  from  which  their  judgment  is  formed,  their  advice 
does  not  appear  to  be  the  counsel  for  me.  I  never  can,  nor  will, 
save  my  health  or  life  by  such  means.  If  that  is  the  only 
remedv,  then  unremedied  must  I  remain. 

"  But  the  cause  of  my  present  state  of  mind  is  not  what 
they  suppose.  It  is  deeper,  higher,  and,  O  God !  Thou  know- 
est  what  it  is !  Wilt  Thou  give  me  hope,  strength,  guid- 
ance ?  "     .     . 

"  Friday,  June  29. — Am  I  led  by  something  higher  to 
the  life  to  which  I  am  tending  ?  Sometimes  I  think  it  is 
most  proper  for  me  to  return  home,  accept  things  as  they 
are,  and  live  a  life  like  others — as  good,  and  as  much  bet- 
ter as  possible.  If  I  can  find  one  with  whom  I  think  I  can 
live  happily,  to  accept  such  a  one,  and  give  up  that  which 
now  leads  me. 

"  My  friends  would  say  this  is  the  prudent  and  rational 
course — but  it  appears  this  is  not  mine.  That  I  am  here  is 
one  evidence  that  it  is  not  mine.  A  second  is  that  I  strug- 
gled against  what  led  me  here  as  much  as  lay  in  my  power, 
until  I  became  weak,  sick,  and  confined  to  my  bed.  Farther 
than  that  I   could  not  go. 

"  They  tell  me  that  if  I  were  married  it  would  not  be  so 
with  me.  I  will  not  dispute  this,  although  I  do  not  believe  it. 
But,  my  good  friends,  that  is  the  difficulty.  To  marry  is  to  me 
impossible.  You  tell  me  this  is  unnatural.  Yes,  my  brethren,  it 
may  be  unnatural,  but  how  shall  I  be  natural  ?  Must  I  commit 
that  which  in  my  sight  is  a  crime,  which  I  feel  would  make  me 
miserable  and  be  death  to  my  soul  ?  '  But  this  is  foolish  and 
one-sided  in  you.  You  are  wrong-minded.  You  will  lose  your 
health,  your  youthful  joy,  and  the  pleasure  which  God  has, 
by  human  laws,  designed  you  to  enjoy.  You  should  give  up 
these  thoughts  and  feelings  of  yours  and  be  like  those  around 
you.' 

"  Yes,  my  friends,  this  advice  I  accept  with  love,  knowing 
your  kindness  to  me.  But,  alas  !  I  feel  that  it  comes  from  such 
a  source  that  I   cannot  receive  it." 


Struggles.  75 

"July  5. — My  brother  George  has  been  here;  he  stayed 
three  days.  He  told  me  he  had  often  talked  with  my  brother 
John  about  living  a  life  higher,  nobler,  and  more  self-denying 
than  he  had  done.  It  appears  from  his  conversation  that  since 
I  left  home  they  have  been  impressed  with  a  deeper  and  better 
spirit.  To  me  it  is  of  much  interest  to  decide  what  I  shall  do. 
I  have  determined  to  make  a  visit  to  Fruitlands.  To  leave  this 
place  is  to  me  a  great  sacrifice.  I  have  been  much  refined  in 
being  here. 

"  To  stay  here — to  purchase  a  place  for  myself — or  to  go 
home.  These  are  questions  about  which  I  feel  the  want  of  some 
friend  to  consult  with.  I  have  no  one  to  whom  I  can  efo  for 
advice.  If  I  wish  to  be  self-denying,  one  would  say  at  home  is 
the  best,  the  largest  field  for  my  activity.  This  may  be  true  in 
one  sense.  But  is  it  wise  to  go  where  there  are  the  most  diffi- 
culties to  overcome  ?  Would  it  not  be  better  to  plant  the  tree  in  the 
soil  where  it  can  grow  most  in  every  direction?  At  home,  to  be 
sure,  if  I  have  strength  to  succeed,  I  may,  perhaps,  do  the  most 
good,  and  it  may  be  the  widest  sphere  for  me.  But  there  are 
many  difficulties  which  have  such  a  direct  influence  on  one  to 
injure,  to  blight  all  high  and  noble  sentiments,  that  I  fear  to 
encounter  them,  and  I  am  not  sure  it  is  my  place.  Perhaps  it 
would  be  best  for  me  not  to  speculate  on  the  future,  but  look 
to  Him  who  is  above  for  wise  direction  in  all  that  concerns  my 
life.  Sacrifices  must  be  made.  I  must  expect  and  accept  them 
in  a  meek,  humble,  and  willing  spirit." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

FRUITLANDS. 

WHAT  influenced  Isaac  Hecker  to  leave  Brook  Farm,  a  place 
so  congenial  in  many  ways  to  his  natural  dispositions,  was, 
plainly  enough,  his  tendency  to  seek  a  more  ascetic  and  interior 
life  than  he  could  lead  there.  The  step  cost  him  much,  but  he 
had  received  all  that  the  place  and  his  companions  could  give 
him,  and  his  departure  was  inevitable. 

His  next  move  in  pursuit  of  his  ideal  took  him  to  Fruitlands. 
This  was  a  farm,  situated  near  Harvard,  in  Worcester  Co., 
Massachusetts,  which  had  been  bought  by  Mr.  Charles  Lane,  an 
English  admirer  of  Amos  Bronson  Alcott,  with  the  hope  of 
establishing  on  it  a  new  community  in  consonance  with  the 
views  and  wishes  of  the  latter.  Perhaps  Fruitlands  could  never, 
at  any  stage  of  its  existence  as  a  corporate  home  for  Mr.  Al- 
cott's  family  and  his  scanty  following  of  disciples,  have  been 
truly  described  as  in  running  order,  but  when  Isaac  Hecker  went 
there,  on  July  II,  1843,  it  was  still  in  its  incipiency.  He  had 
paid  the  Fruitlanders  a  brief  visit  toward  the  end  of  June,  and 
thought  that  he  saw  in  them  evidences  of  "  a  deeper  life."  It 
speaks  volumes  for  his  native  sagacity  and  keen  eye  for  realities, 
that  less  than  a  fortnight's  residence  with  Mr.  Alcott  should 
have  sufficed  to  dispel  t'his  illusion. 

Bronson  Alcott  seems  to  have  been  by  nature  what  the  French 
call  a  poseur ;  or,  as  one  of  his  own  not  unkindly  intimates  has 
described  him,  "an  innocent  charlatan."  Although  not  al- 
together empty,  he  was  vain ;  full  of  talk  which  had  what  was 
most  often  a  false  air  of  profundity;  unpractical  and  incapable  in 
the  ordinary  affairs  of  life  to  a  degree  not  adequately  compen- 
sated for  by  such  a  grasp  as  he  was  able  to  get  on  the  realities 
that  underlie  them ;  and  with  an  imposing  aspect  which  corre- 
sponded wonderfully  well  with  his  interior  traits.  That,  in  his 
prime,  his  persuasive  accents  and  bland  self-confidence,  backed 
by  the  admiration  felt  and  expressed  for  him  by  men  such  as 
Emerson,  and  some  of  the  community  at  Brook  Farm,  should 
have  induced  an  open-minded  youth  like  Isaac  Hecker  to  take 
him  for  a  time  at  his  own  valuation,  is  not  strange.  The  truth 
is,  that  it  was  one  of  Father  Hecker's  life-long  traits  to  prove  all 

things,  that  he  might  find  the   good    and   hold    fast  to  it.     There 

76 


Fruitlands.  77 


was  an  element  of  justice  in  his  make-up  which  enabled  him  to 
suspend  judgment  upon  any  institution  or  person,  however  little 
they  seemed  to  deserve  such  consideration,  until  he  was  in  a 
condition  to  decide  from  his  own  investigations.  We  shall  see, 
later  on,  how  he  tried  all  the  principal  forms  of  Protestantism 
before  deciding  upon  Catholicity,  strong  as  his  tendency  toward 
the  Church  had  become.  We  have  never  known  any  other  man 
who,  without  exhibiting  obstinacy,  could  so  steadfastly  reserve 
his  judgment  on  another's  statement,  especially  if  it  were  in  the 
nature  of  a  condemnation. 

When  Isaac  Hecker  first  made  his  acquaintance,  Mr.  Alcott 
had  but  recently  returned  from  England,  whither  he  had  gone 
on  the  invitation  of  James  P.  Greaves,  a  friend  and  fellow-laborer 
of  the  great  Swiss  educator,  Pestalozzi.  Mr.  Alcott  had  gained 
a  certain  vogue  at  home  as  a  lecturer,  and  also  as  the  conductor 
of  a  singular  school  for  young  children.  Among  its  many 
peculiarities  was  that  of  carrying  "moral  suasion"  to  such  lengths, 
as  a  solitary  means  of  discipline,  that  the  master  occasionally 
publicly  submitted  to  the  castigation  earned  by  a  refractory 
urchin,  probably  by  way  of  reaching  the  latter's  moral  sense 
through  shame  or  pity.  This  was,  doubtless,  rather  interesting 
to  the  pupils,  whether  or  not  it  was  corrective.  Mr.  Alcott's 
peculiarities  did  not  stop  here,  however,  and  Boston  parents, 
when  he  began  to  publish  the  Colloquies  on  the  Gospels  which 
he  held  with  their  children,  concluded,  on  the  evidence  thus 
furnished,  that  his  thought  was  too  "advanced"  to  make  it 
prudent  to  trust  them  longer  to  his  care.  Miss  Elizabeth  P. 
Peabody,  since  so  well  known  as  an  expositor  of  the  Kinder- 
garten system,  had  been  his  assistant.  She  wrote  a  Record  of 
Mr.  Alcotfs  School  which  attracted  the  attention  of  a  small 
band  of  educational  enthusiasts  in  England.  They  gave  the 
name  of  "Alcott  House"  to  a  school  of  their  own  at  Ham,  near 
London,  and  hoped  for  great  things  from  the  personal  advice 
and  presence  of  the  "  Concord  Plato."  He  was  petted  and  feted 
among  them  pretty  nearly  to  the  top  of  his  bent ;  but  his  visit 
would  have  proved  a  more  unalloyed  success  if  the  hard  Scotch 
sense  of  Carlyle,  to  whom  Emerson  had  recommended  him,  had 
not  so  quickly  dubbed  his  vaunted  depths  deceptive  shallows. 

On  his  return  he  was  accompanied  by  two  Englishmen  who 
seemed  to  be  like-minded  with  himself,  a  Mr.  H.  G.  Wright 
and  Mr.   Charles  Lane,  both  of  whom    returned  within  a    year  or 


78  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

two  to  their  own  country,  wiser  and  perhaps  sadder  men. 
Lane,  at  all  events,  who  was  a  simple  and  candid  soul  for  whom 
Isaac  Hecker  conceived  a  long-enduring  friendship,  sunk  all  his 
private  means  irrevocably  in  the  futile  attempt  to  establish  Fruit- 
lands  on  a  solid  basis.  To  use  his  own  words  in  a  letter  now 
at  our  hand,  though  referring  to  another  of  Mr.  Alcott's  schemes, 
his  little  fortune  was  "  buried  in  the  same  grave  of  flowery  rhe- 
toric in  which  so  many  other  notions  have    been  deposited." 

Lying  before  us  there  is  an  epistle — Mr.  Alcott's  most 
ordinary  written  communications  with  his  friends  must  have 
demanded  that  term  in  preference  to  anything  less  stately — in 
which  he  has  described  his  own  ideal  of  what  life  at  Fruitlands 
ought  to  be.  No  directer  way  of  conveying  to  our  readers  a 
notion  of  his  peculiar  faculty  of  seeming  to  say  something  of  singu- 
lar importance  occurs  to  us,  than  that  of  giving  it  entire.  Though 
found  among  Father  Hecker's  papers,  it  was  not  addressed  to 
him  but  to  one  of  his  most- valued  Brook  Farm  associates  : 

"Concord,  Mass.,  February  15,  1843. — DEAR  FRIEND  :  In  reply 
to  your  letter  of  the  12th,  I  have  to  say  that  as  until  the  snow 
leaves  the  ground  clear,  the  Family  cannot  so  much  as  look  for  a 
locality  (which  then  may  not  readily  be  found),  it  seems  premature 
to  talk  of  the  conditions   on  which  any  association  may  be  formed. 

"  Nevertheless,  as  human  progress  is  a  universally  interesting 
subject,  I  have  much  pleasure  in  communicating  with  you  on  the 
question  of  the  general  conditions  most  conducive  to  that  end. 

"  I  have  no  belief  in  associations  of  human  beings  for  the 
purpose  of  making  themselves  happy  by  means  of  improved  out- 
ward arrangements  alone,  as  the  fountains  of  happiness  are  within, 
and  are  opened  to  us  as  we  are  preharmonized  or  consociated 
with  the  Universal  Spirit.  This  is  the  one  condition  needful  for 
happy  association  amongst  men.  And  this  condition  is  attained 
by  the  surrender  of  all  individual  or  selfish  gratification — a  com- 
plete willingness  to  be  moulded  by  Divinity.  This,  as  men  now 
are,  of  course  involves  self-renunciation  and  retrenchment ;  and  in 
enumerating  the  hindrances  which  debar  us  from  happiness,  we 
shall  be  drawn  to  consider,  in  the  first  place,  ourselves  ;  and  to 
entertain  practically  the  question.  Are  we  prepared  for  the  giving 
up  all,  and  taking  refuge  in  Love  as  an  unfailing  Providence  ? 
A  faith  and  reliance  as  large  as  this  seems  needful  to  insure  us 
against  disappointment.  The  entrance  to  Paradise  is  still  through 
the  strait  gate  and  narrow  way  of  self-denial.  Eden's  avenue  is 
yet  guarded  by  the  fiery-sworded  cherubim,  and  humility  and 
charity  are  the  credentials  for  admission.  Unless  well  armed  with 
valor    and    patience,    we    must    continue    in    the    old    and    much- 


Fruitlands.  79 


trodden  broad  way,  and  take  share    of   the    penalties    paid  by   all 
who  walk  thereon. 

"  The  conditions  for  one  are  conditions  for  all.  Hence  there 
can  be  no  parley  with  the  tempter,  no  private  pleas  for  self- 
indulgence,   no  leaning  on  the  broken  reed  of  circumstances. 

"  It  is  not  for  us  to  prescribe  conditions;  these  are  prescribed 
on  our  natures,  our  state  of  being — and  the  best  we  can  do,  if 
disqualified,  is  either  to  attain  an  amended  character,  or  to  relin- 
quish all  hopes  of  securing  felicity. 

"  Our  purposes,  as  far  as  we  know  them  at  present,  are 
briefly  these  : 

"  First,  to  obtain  the  free  use  of  a  spot  of  land  adequate  by 
our  own  labor  to  our  support ;  including,  of.  course,  a  convenient 
plain  house,  and  offices,  wood-lot,   garden,   and  orchard. 

"  Secondly,  to  live  independently  of  foreign  aids  by  being  suffi- 
ciently elevated  to  procure  all  articles  for  subsistence  in  the  pro- 
ductions of  the  spot,  under  a  regimen  of  healthful  labor  and 
recreation;  with  benignity  towards  all  creatures,  human  and  in- 
ferior; with  beauty  and  refinement  in  all  economies;  and  the 
purest  charity  throughout  our  demeanor. 

"  Should  this  kind  of  life  attract  parties  towards  us — indi- 
viduals of  like  aims  and  issues — that  state  of  being  itself  deter- 
mines the  law  of  association ;  and  the  particular  mode  may  be 
spoken  of  more  definitely  as  individual  cases  may  arise ;  but,  in 
no  case,  could  inferior  ends  compromise  the  principles  laid  down. 

"  Doubtless  such  a  household,  with  our  library,  our  services 
and  manner  of  life,  may  attract  young  men  and  women,  possibly 
also  families  with  children,  desirous  of  access  to  the  channels  and 
fountain  of  wisdom  and  purity  ;  and  we  are  not  without  hope 
that  Providence  will  use  us  progressively  for  beneficial  effects  in 
the  great  work  of  human  regeneration,  and  the  restoration  of  the 
highest  life  on  earth. 

"  With  the  humane  wish  that  yourself  and  little  ones  may  be 
led   to  confide  in  providential  Love, 

"  I   am,   dear  friend,  very  truly  yours, 

"A.  Bronson  Alcott." 

It  must  be  admitted  that  there  is  something  delightful  in  the 
naivete  of  this  undertaking  to  be  "  sufficiently  elevated  to  live 
independently  of  foreign  aids,"  after  first  getting  "  the  free  use  of 
a  spot  of  land,  .  .  .  including,  of  course,  a  convenient  plain 
house,  and  offices,  wood-lot,  garden,  and  orchard."  Establish- 
ments which  would  tolerably  approximate  to  this  description,  and 
to  the  really  essential  needs  of  its  prospective  founder,  have  long 
existed  in  every  civilized  community.  There  are  certain  restric- 
tions placed  upon  their  inmates,  however,  and  Mr.  Alcott's  desire 


8o  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

was  to  make  sure  of  his  basis  of  earthly  supplies,  while  left  en- 
tirely free  to  persuade  himself  that  he  had  arrived  at  an  eleva- 
tion which  made  him  independent  of  them.  Still,  though  "  a 
charlatan,"  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  he  was  "an  innocent" 
one.  He  was  plainly  born  great  in  that  way,  and  had  no  need 
to  achieve  greatness  in  it.  As  Father  Hecker  said  of  him  long 
afterwards,  "  Diogenes  and  his  tub  would  have  been  Alcott's 
ideal  if  he  had  carried  it  out.  But  he  never  carried  it  out." 
Diogenes  himself,  it  may  be  supposed,  had  his  ideal  included  a 
family  and  an  audience  as  well  as  a  tub,  might  finally  have  come 
to  hold  that  the  finding  of  the  latter  was  a  mere  detail,  which 
could  be  entrusted  indifferently  to  either  of  the  two  formsr  or 
to  both  combined.  Somebody  once  described  Fruitlands  as  a 
place  where  Mr.  Alcott  looked  benign  and  talked  philosophy, 
while  Mrs.  Alcott  and  the  children  did  the  work.  Still,  to  look 
benign  is  a  good  deal  for  a  man  to  do  persistently  in  an  adverse 
world,  indifferent  for  the  most  part  to  the  charms  of  "  divine 
philosophy,"  and  Mr.  Alcott  persevered  in  that  exercise  until  his 
latest  day.  "  He  was  unquestionably  one  of  those  who  like  to 
sit  upon  a  platform,"  wrote,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  one  who  knew 
Alcott  well,  "  and  he  may  have  liked  to  feel  that  his  venerable 
aspect  had  the  effect  of  a  benediction."  But  with  this  mild  cri- 
ticism, censure  of  him  is  well-nigh  exhausted.  There  was  nothing 
of  the  Patriarch  of  Bleeding  Heart  Yard  about  him  except  that 
"  venerable  aspect,"  for  which  nature  was  responsible,  and  not  he. 

Fruitlands  was  the  caricature  of  Brook  Farm.  Just  as  the 
I  fanatic  is  the  caricature  of  the  true  reformer,  so  was  Alcott  the 
caricature  of  Ripley.  This  is  not  meant  as  disparaging  either 
Alcott's  sincerity  or  his  intelligence,  but  to  affirm  that  he  lacked 
judgment,  that  he  miscalculated  means  and  ends,  that  he  jumped 
from  theory  to  practice  without  a  moment's  interval,  preferred 
to  be  guided  by  instinct  rather  than  by  processes  of  reasoning, 
and  deemed  this  to  be  the  philosopher's  way. 

In  the  memoranda  of  private  conversations  with  Father  Hecker 
we  find  several  references  to  Mr.  Alcott.  The  first  bears  date 
February  4,  1882,  and  occurs  in  a  conversation  ranging  over  the 
whole  of  his  experience  between  his  first  and  second  departures 
from  home.     We  give  it  as  it  stands  : 

"  Fruitlands  was  very  different  from  Brook  Farm — far  more 
ascetic." 


Fraitlands.  8 1 


"You  didn't  like  it?" 

"  Yes ;  but  they  did  not  begin  to  satisfy  me.  I  said  to  them  : 
'  If  you  had  the  Eternal  here,  all  right.      I   would  be  with  you.' 

"  Had  they  no  notion  of  the  hereafter  ?  " 

"  No ;  nothing  definite.  Their  idea  was  human  perfection.' 
They  set  out  to  demonstrate  what  man  can  do  in  the  way  of 
the  supremacy  of  the  spiritual  over  the  animal.  '  All  right,'  I 
said,  '  I  agree  with  you  fully.  I  admire  your  asceticism ;  it  is 
nothing  new  to  me;  I  have  practised  it  a  long  time  myself.  If 
}'ou  can  get  the  Everlasting  out  of  my  mind,  I'm  yours.  But  I 
know '  (here  Father  Hecker  thumped  the  table  at  his  bedside) 
1  that  I   am  going  to  live  for  ever.'  " 

"  What  did  Alcott  say  when  you  left  ?  " 

"  He  went  to  Lane  and  said,  '  Well,  Hecker  has  flunked  out. 
He  hadn't  the  courage  to  persevere.  He's  a  coward.'  But  Lane 
said,  '  No  ;  you're  mistaken.  Hecker's  right.  He  wanted  more 
than  we  had  to  give  him.'" 

Mr.  Alcott's  death  in  1888  was  the  occasion  of  the  reminis- 
cences which  follow  : 

"March  5,  1888. — Bronson  Alcott  dead!  I  saw  him  coming 
from  Rochester  on  the  cars.  I  had  been  a  Catholic  missionary 
for  I  don't  know  how  many  years.  We  sat  together.  '  Father 
Hecker,'  said  he,  '  why  can't  you  make  a  Catholic  of  me  ? ' 
'  Too  much  rust  here,'  said  I,  clapping  him  on  the  knee.  He 
got  very  angry  because  I  said  that  was  the  obstacle.  I  never 
saw  him  angry  at  any  other  time.      He   was  too  proud. 

"  But  he  was  a  great  natural  man.  He  was  faithful  to  pure, 
natural  conscience.  His  virtues  came  from  that.  He  never  had 
any  virtue  beyond  what  a  good  pagan  has.  He  never  aimed 
at  anything  more,  nor  claimed  to.  He  maintained  that  to 
be  all. 

"  I  don't  believe  he  ever  prayed.  Whom  could  he  pray  to  ? 
Was  not  Bronson  Alcott  the  greatest  of  all  ?  " 

"  Did  he    believe  in  God  ?  " 

"  Not  the  God  that  we  know.  He  believed  in  the  Bronson 
Alcott  God.     He  was  his  own  God." 

"  You  say  he  was  Emerson's  master  :  what  do  you  mean  by 
that  ?  " 

"  He  taught  Emerson.  He  began  life  as  a  pedler.  The 
Yankee  pedler     was     Emerson's     master.       Whatever     principles 


82  The  Life  of  FatJicr  Hecker 

j  Emerson  had,  Alcott  gave  him.  And  Emerson  was  a  good 
pupil;  he  was  faithful  to  his  master  to  the  end. 

"  When  did  I  know  him  first  ?  Hard  to  remember.  He  was 
the  head  of  Fruitlands,  as  Ripley  was  of  Brook  Farm.  They 
avere  entirely  different  men.  Diogenes  and  his  tub  would  have 
been  Alcott's  ideal  if  he  had  carried  it  out.  But  he  never 
carried  it  out.  Ripley's  ideal  would  have  been  Epictetus. 
Ripley  would  have  taken  with  him  the  good  things  of  this  life; 
Alcott  would  have  rejected  them  all." 

"  How  did  he  receive  you  at  Fruitlands  ?  " 

"  Very  kindly,  but  from  mixed  and  selfish  motives.  I  sus- 
pected he  wanted  me  because  he  thought  I  would  bring  money 
to  the  community.     Lane  was    entirely  unselfish. 

"  Alcott  was  a  man  of  no  great  intellectual  gifts  or  acquire- 
ments. His  knowledge  came  chiefly  from  experience  and  instinct. 
He  had  an  insinuating  and  persuasive  way  with  him — he  must 
have  been  an  ideal  pedler." 

"  What  if  he  had  been  a  Catholic,  and  thoroughly  sanc- 
tified ?" 

"  He  could  have  been  nothing  but  a  hermit  like  those  of 
the  fourth  century — he  was  naturally  and  constitutionally  so  odd. 
Emerson,  Alcott,  and  Thoreau  were  three  consecrated  cranks : 
rather  be  crank  than  president.  All  the  cranks  look  up  to 
them." 

Beside  these  later  reminiscences  we  shall  now  place  the  con- 
temporary record  of  his  impressions  made  by  Isaac  Hecker  while 
at  Fruitlands.  Our  first  extract,  however,  was  written  at  Brook 
Farm,  a  few  days    before  going  thither  : 

"July  7,  1843. — I  go  to  Mr.  Alcott's  next  Tuesday,  if 
nothing  happens.  I  have  had  three  pairs  of  coarse  pants  and  a 
coat  made  for  me.  It  is  my  intention  to  commence  work  as 
soon  as  I  get  there.  I  will  gradually  simplify  my  dress  without 
making  any  sudden  difference,  although  it  would  be  easier  to 
make  a  radical  and  thorough  change  at  once  than  piece  by 
piece.  But  this  will  be  a  lesson  in  patient  perseverance  to  me. 
All  our  difficulties  should  be  looked  at  in  such  a  light  as  to 
improve  and  elevate  our  minds. 

"  I  can  hardly  prevent  myself  from  saying  how  much  I  shall 
miss  the  company  of  those  whom  I  love  and  associate  with  here. 
But  I    must    go.     I  am    called  with  a    stronger   voice.     This  is  a 


Fruit  lands.  83 


different  trial  from  any  I  have  ever  had.  I  have  had  that  of 
leaving  kindred,  but  now  I  have  that  of  leaving  those  whom  I 
love  from  affinity.  If  I  wished  to  live  a  life  the  most  gratifying 
to  me,  and  in  agreeable  company,  I  certainly  would  remain  here. 
Here  are  refining  amusements,  cultivated  persons — and  one  whom 
I  have  not  spoken  of,  one  who  is  too  much  to  me  to  speak  of, 
one  who  would  leave  all  for  me.  Alas  !  him  I  must  leave 
to  go." 

In  this  final  sentence,  as  it  now  stands  in  the  diary  and  as  we 
have  transcribed  it,  occurs  one  of  those  efforts  of  which  we  have 
spoken,  to  obliterate  the  traces  of  this  early  attachment.  "Him" 
was  originally  written  "her,"  but  the  r  has  been  lengthened  to  an 
m,  and  the  e  dotted,  both  with  a  care  which  overshot  their  mark 
by  an  almost  imperceptible  hair's- breadth.  If  the  nature  of 
this  attachment  were  not  so  evident  from  other  sources,  we 
should  have  left  such  passages  unquoted  ;  fearing  lest  they  might 
be  misunderstood.  As  it  is,  the  light  they  cast  seems  to  us  to 
throw  up  into  fuller  proportions  the  kind  and  extent  of  the  re- 
nunciations to  which  Isaac  Hecker  was  called  before  he  had 
arrived    at  any  clear  view  of  the  end  to  which  they  tended. 

"  Fruitlands,  July  12. — Last  evening  I  arrived  here.  After 
tea  I  went  out  in  the  fields  and  raked  hay  for  an  hour  in  com- 
pany with  the  persons  here.  We  returned  and  had  a  conver- 
sation on  Clothing.  Some  very  fine  things  were  said  by  Mr. 
Alcott  and  Mr.  Lane.  In  most  of  their  thoughts  I  coincide ; 
they  are  the  same  which  of  late  have  much  occupied  my  mind. 
Alcott  said  that  to  Emerson  the  world  was  a  lecture-room,  to 
Brownson  a  rostrum. 

"This  morning  after  breakfast  a  conversation  was  held  on 
Friendship  and  its  laws  and  conditions.  Mr.  Alcott  placed 
Innocence  first;  Larned,  Thoughtfulness ;  I,  Seriousness;  Lane, 
Fidelity. 

"July  13. — This  morning  after  breakfast  there  was  held  a 
conversation  on  The  Highest  Aim.  Mr.  Alcott  said  it  was 
Integrity;  I,  Harmonic  being;  Lane,  Progressive  being;  Larned, 
Annihilation  of  self ;  Bower,  Repulsion  of  the  evil  in  us. 
Then  there  was  a  confession  of  the  obstacles  which  prevent  us 
from  attaining  the  highest  aim.  Mine  was  the  doubt  whether 
the  light  is  light ;  not  the  want  of  will  to  follow,  or  the  sight  to 
see." 


84  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 

"July  17. — I  cannot  understand  what  it  is  that  leads  me,  or 
what   I  am  after.      Being  is  incomprehensible. 

"  What  shall  I  be  led  to  ?  Is  there  a  being  whom  I  may 
marry  and  who  would  be  the  means  of  opening  my  eyes  ? 
Sometimes  I  think  so — but  it  appears  impossible.  Why  should 
others  tell  me  that  it  is  so,  and  will  be  so,  in  an  unconscious 
way,  as  Larned  did  on  Sunday  last,  and  as  others  have  before 
him  ?  Will  I  be  led  home  ?  It  strikes  me  these  people  here, 
Alcott  and  Lane,  will  be  a  great  deal  to  me.  I  do  not  know 
but  they  may  be  what  I  am  looking  for,  or  the  answer  to  that 
in  me  which  is  asking. 

"  Can  I  say  it  ?  I  believe  it  should  be  said.  Here  I  cannot 
end.  They  are  too  near  me ;  they  do  not  awaken  in  me  that 
sense  of  their  high  superiority  which  would  keep  me  here  to  be 
bettered,  to  be  elevated.  They  have  much,  very  much.  I  desire 
Mr.  Alcott's  strength  of  self-denial,  and  the  unselfishness  of  Mr. 
Lane  in  money  matters.  In  both  these  they  are  far  my  supe- 
riors. I  would  be  meek,  humble,  and  sit  at  their  feet  that  I 
might  be  as  they  are.  They  do  not  understand  me,  but  if  I  am 
what  my  consciousness,  my  heart,  lead  me  to  feel — if  I  am  not 
deceived — why  then  I  can  wait.  Yes,  patiently  wait.  Is  not 
this  the  first  time  since  I  have  been  here  that  I  -have  recovered 
myself?  Do  I  not  feel  that  I  have  something  to  receive  here, 
to  add  to,  to  increase  my  highest  life,  which  I  have  never  felt 
anywhere  else  ? 

"  Is  this  sufficient  to  keep  me  here  ?  If  I  can  prophesy,  I 
must  say  no.  I  feel  that  it  will  not  fill  my  capacity.  O  God  ! 
strengthen  my  resolution.  Let  me  not  waver,  and  continue  my 
life.  But  I  am  sinful.  Oh,  forgive  my  sins  !  What  shall  I  do, 
O  Lord  !  that  they  may  be  blotted  out  ?  Lord,  could  I  only 
blot  them  from  my  memory,  nothing  would  be  too  great  or  too 
much." 

"July  18. — I  have  thought  of  my  family  this  afternoon,  and 
the  happiness  and  love  with  which  I  might  return  to  them.  To 
leave  them,  to  give  up  the  thought  of  living  with  them  again — 
can  I  entertain  that  idea  ?  Still,  I  cannot  conceive  how  I  can 
engage  in  business,  share  the  practices,  and  indulge  myself  with 
the  food  and  garmenture  (sic)  of  our  home  and  city.  To  return 
home,  were  it  possible  for  me,  would  most  probably  not  only 
stop  my  progress,  but  put  me  back. 

"  It    is    useless    for    me    to    speculate    upon    my    future.     Put 


Fruitlaiids.  85 

dependence  on  the  spirit  which  leads  me,  be  faithful  to  it ;  work, 
and  leave  results  to  God.  If  the  question  should  be  asked  me, 
whether  I  would  give  up  my  kindred  and  business  and  follow 
out  this  spirit-life,  or  return  and  enjoy  them  both,  I  could  not 
hesitate  a  moment,  for  they  would  not  compare — there  would  be 
no  room  for  choice.  What  I  do  I  must  do.  for  it  is  not  I  that 
do  it;  it  is  the  spirit.  What  that  spirit  may  be  is  a  question 
I  cannot  answer.  What  it  leads  me  to  do  will  be  the  only 
evidence  of  its  character.  I  feel  as  impersonal  as  a  stranger  to  it. 
I  ask,  Who  are  you  ?  Where  are  you  going  to  take  me  ?  Why 
me  ?  Why  not  some  one  else  ?  I  stand  amazed,  astonished  to 
see  myself.  Alas  !  I  cry,  who  am  I  and  what  does  this  mean  ? 
and  I  am  lost  in  wonder." 

"  Saturday,  July  21. — Yesterday,  after  supper,  a  conversation 
took  place  between  Mr.  Alcott,  Mr.  Lane,  and  myself;  the  sub- 
ject was  my  position  with  regard  to  my  family,  my  duty,  and 
my  position  here.  Mr.  Alcott  asked  for  my  first  impressions  as 
regards  the  hindrances  I  have  noted  since  coming  here.  I 
told  him  candidly  they  were:  1st,  his  want  of  frankness  ;  2d,  his 
disposition  to  separateness  rather  than  win  co-operators  with  the 
aims  in  his  own  mind;  3d,  his  family,  who  prevent  his  immediate 
plans  of  reformation  ;  4th,  the  fact  that  this  place  has  very  little 
fruit  on  it,  while  it  was  and  is  their  desire  that  fruit  should  be 
the  principal  part  of  their  diet;  5th,  my  fear  that  they  have  too 
decided  a  tendency  toward  literature  and  writing  for  the  pros- 
perity and  success  of  their  enterprise. 

"  My  relations  with  my  family  are  very  critical  at  this  period 
— more  so  than  they  have  ever  been.  It  is  the  crisis  of  the 
state  we  have  been  in  for  this  past  year.  If  God  gives  me 
strength  to  be  true  to  the  spirit,  it  is  very  doubtful  how  far 
those  at  home  will  be  willing  to  second  it.  I  have  written  them 
a  letter  asking  for  their  own  aims  and  views  of  life,  and  I  am 
anxious  for  their  answer.  The  question  of  returning  is  not  a 
wilful  one  with  me,  for  it  is  the  spirit  which  guides  me.  If  it 
can  live  there,  I  go  back.  If  not,  I  am  governed  and  must  fol- 
low where  it  leads,   wherever  that  may  be." 

The  letter  referred  to  in  this  entry  of  the  diary  is  too  long, 
and  covers  too  much  ground  already  traversed,  to  be  quoted  in 
full,  but  it  contains  some  striking  passages.  It  was  written  at 
Fruitlands,     July    17,    '43.       After    inquiring  with    his    customary 


86  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


directness  what  are    their  aims  in  life    and  what    they  are    doing 
to  attain  them,  he  goes  on  to  say  : 

"  Although  the  idea  or  aim  which  each  one  aspires  toward 
and  tries  to  realize  will  be  colored  by  his  own  peculiar  tenden- 
cies, still,  in  substance,  in  practice,  they  will  agree  if  they  are 
inspired  by  the  self-same  spirit." 

Here  we  have  the  practical  good  sense  which  reined  in  and 
directed  Isaac  Hecker  throughout  his  life,  making  it  finally  im- 
possible for  him  not  to  see  and  recognize  the  visible  Church, 
notwithstanding  his  mystical  tendency,  his  want  of  thorough 
education,  and  his  birthright  of  heresy. 

Again  he  writes  : 

"  There  are  all  the  natural  ties  why  we  should  not  be 
separated,  and  no  reasons  why  we  should,  unless  there  exists 
such  a  wide  difference  in  the  aims  we  seek  to  realize  that  it 
would  be  injurious  or  impossible  for  us  to  live  in  family,  in  unity, 
in  love.  I  do  not  believe  this  difference  exists,  but  if  it  does,  and 
we  are  conscious  of  being  led  by  a  higher  spirit  than  our  own, 
we  should  and  would  sacrifice  all  that  hinders  us  from  the  divine 
calling.  That  demands  implicit,  uncompromising  obedience.  It 
speaks  in  the  tone  of  high  authority.  The  dead  must  bury  their 
dead.  That  which  offends  it  must  be  got  rid  of  at  all  costs,  be 
it  wife,  parents,  children,  brothers,  sisters,  or  our  own  eye 
or  hand.  I  do  not  contemplate  a  sacrifice  of  either  of  these ; 
still,  it  is  well  to  consider  whether,  if  such  a  demand  should  be 
made  of  us,  we  are  in  such  a  state  of  mind  that  we  would  be 
willing  to  give  one  or  all  up,  if  they  should  stand  in  the  way 
of  our  progress  toward  God.     ... 

"  If  you  desire  to  continue  the  way  of  life  you  have  and  do 
now  lead,  be  plain,  frank,  and  so  express  yourselves  explicitly.  If 
not,  and  you  have  any  desire  or  intention  in  your  minds  to  alter 
or  make  a  radical  change  in  your  external  circumstances  for  the 
sake  of  a  higher,  better  mode  of  life,  be  equally  open,  and  let 
me  know  all  your  thoughts  and  aspirations  which  are  struggling 
for    expression,  for  real  life. 

"  We  have  labored  together  in  union  for  material  wealth ; 
can  we  now  labor  in  the  same  way  for  spiritual  wealth  ?  If 
there  are  sufficient  points  of  accord  in  us  in  this  higher  life,  we 
must  come    together  and  live    in    harmony.      Since    my  departure 


Fruitlands.  87 


from  home  there  has  been  a  change  in  my  mind,  or,  perhaps 
more  truly,  a  sudden  and  rapid  growth  in  a  certain  direction, 
the  germs  of  which  you  must  have  heretofore  perceived  in  my 
conduct  and  life.  On  the  other  hand,  I  suppose  there  has  been 
a  progress  in  your  minds,  and  I  feel  that  the  time  has  arrived 
when  we  should  see  where  we  are,  so  that  we  may  either  come 
together  or  separate.  Our  future  relation  cannot  be  a  wilful 
one.  It  must  be  based  on  a  unity  of  spirit,  for  the  social,  the 
humane  instincts  cannot  bind  us  together  any  longer. 
Have  we  the  spiritual  as  well  as  the  natural  brotherhood  ? 
this  is  the  question  which  deeply  concerns  us  now.  ...  I 
do  not  know  what  the  spirit  has  done  for  you  since  my 
departure.  If  it  has  led  you  as  it  has  led  me,  there  is  no 
reason  why  I  should  be  amongst  strangers  by  birth,  although  not 
altogether  strangers  in  love  .  .  .  Think  seriously  upon  you-r 
answer.  Act  true.  Life  is  to  me  of  serious  import,  and  I  feel 
called  upon  to  give  up  all  that  hinders  me  from  following  this 
import  wherever  it  may  lead.  But  do  not  let  this  influence  you 
in  your  judgments.  We  have  but  a  short  life  to  live  here,  and 
I  would  offer  mine  to  some  worthy  end  :  this  is  all  I  desire. 
My  health  is  very  good.  I  am  still  at  Fruitlands,  and  will 
remain  here  until  something  further  happens.  Accept  my  deep- 
est love." 

While  waiting  for  an  answer  to  this  letter,  the  diary  shows 
how  continuously  Isaac's  mind  was  working  over  this  problem  of 
a  final  separation  from  his  kindred.  It  seems  probable  that  it 
was,  on  the  whole,  the  deepest  emotional  one  that  he  had  to 
solve.  Both  filial  duty  and  natural  affection  were  strong  senti- 
ments with  him.  One  notices  in  these  letters  how  courteous 
and  urbane  is  the  tone  he  uses,  even  when  insisting  most  on  the 
necessity  which  lies  upon  him  to  cut  all  the  ties  which  bind 
him.  This  was  a  family  trait.  In  a  letter  written  to  us  last 
September  in  answer  to  a  question,  Mr.  Charles  A.  Dana  in- 
cidentally refers  to  a  visit  he  paid  Isaac  Hecker  at  his  mother's 
house.  "  It  was  a  very  interesting  family,"  he  writes,  "  and  the 
cordiality  and  sweetness  of  the  relations  which  prevailed  in  it 
impressed  me  very  greatly." 

The  entry  we  are  about  to  quote  opens  with  an  odd  echo 
from  a  certain  school  of  mysticism  with  which  Isaac  about  this 
time  became  familiar : 


88  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

"July  22,  1843. — Man  requires  a  new  birth — the  birth  of  the 
feminine  in  him. 

"  The  question  arises  in  my  mind  whether  it  is  necessary  for 
me  to  require  the  concurrence  of  my  brothers  in  the  views  of 
life  which  now  appear  to  demand  of  me  their  actualization. 

"  Can  I  not  adopt  simple  garmenture  and  diet  without  their 
doing  so  ?  Must  I  needs  have  their  concurrence  ?  Can  I  not 
leave  results  to  themselves  ?  If  my  life  is  purer  than  that  of 
those  around  me,  can  I   not  trust  to  its  own  simple  influence  ? 

"  But  if  there  is  a  great  difference  of  spirit,  can  we  live  to- 
gether ?  Does  not  like  seek  like  ?  In  money  matters  things 
must  certainly  be  other  than  they  have  been.  We  must  agree 
that  no  accounts  shall  be  kept  between  ourselves,  let  the  con- 
sequences be  what  they  may.  I  would  rather  suffer  evils  from  a 
dependence  on  the  spirit  of  love  than  permit  that  of  selfishness 
to  exist  between  us.  I  ask  not  a  cent  above  what  will  supply 
my  immediate,  necessary  wants.  .  .  They  may  demand  ten 
times  more  than  I,  and  it  would  be  a  happiness  to  me  to  see 
them  use  it,  even  if  I  thought  they  used  it  wrongfully.  All  the 
check  I  would  be  willing  to  employ  would  be  that  of  love  and 
mutual  good  feeling.  If  I  remain  as  I  now  am,  I  shall  require 
very  little,  and  that  little  would  be  spent  for  the  benefit  and 
help  of  others. 

"July  23. — I  will  go  home,  be  true  to  the  spirit  with  the 
help  of  God,  and  wait  for  further  light  and  strength.  ...  I 
feel  that  I  cannot  live  at  this  place  as  I  would.  This  is  not  the 
place  for  my  soul.  .  .  My  life  is  not  theirs.  They  have  been 
the  means  of  giving  me  much  light  on  myself,  but  I  feel  I 
would  live  and  progress  more  in  a  different  atmosphere." 

On  the  25th  of  July  Isaac  finally  departed  from  Fruitlands, 
and  after  remaining  for  a  few  days  at  Brook  Farm,  he  returned 
to  his  home  in  New  York.  Before  following  him  thither,  it  may 
be  well  to  give  at  once  such  further  references  to  this  period  of 
his  life  as  are  contained  in  the  memoranda.  The  following  ex- 
tract is  undated : 

"  A  propos  of  Emerson's  death,  Father  Hecker  said  :  '  I  knew 
him  well.  When  I  resolved  to  become  a  Catholic  I  was  board- 
ing at  the  house  of  Henry  Thoreau's  mother,  a  stone's-throw 
from  Emerson's  at  Concord.'  " 

"What  did  Thoreau    say  about  it?" 


Fruitlands.  89 


"  'What's  the  use  of  your  joining  the  Catholic  Church?  Can't 
you  get  along  without  hanging  to  her  skirts?'  I  suppose  Emer- 
son found  it  out  from  Thoreau,  so  he  tried  his  best  to  get  me 
out  of  the  notion.  He  invited  me  to  tea  with  him,  and  he  kept 
leading  up  to  the  subject  and  I  leading  away  from  it.  The  next 
day  he  asked  me  to  drive  over  with  him  to  the  Shakers,  some 
fifteen  miles.  We  stayed  over  night,  and  all  the  way  there  and 
back  he  was  fishing  for  my  reasons,  with  the  plain  purpose  of 
dissuading  me.  Then  Alcott  and  he  arranged  matters  so  that 
they  cornered  me  in  a  sort  of  interview,  and  Alcott  frankly 
developed  the  subject.  I  finally  said,  '  Mr.  Alcott,  I  deny  your 
inquisitorial  right  in  this  matter,'  and  so  they  let  it  drop.  One 
day,  however,  I  was  walking  along  the  road  and  Emerson  joined 
me.  Presently  he  said,  '  Mr.  Hecker,  I  suppose  it  was  the  art, 
the  architecture,  and  so  on  in  the  Catholic  Church  which  led 
you  to  her?'  'No,'  said  I;  'but  it  was  what  caused  all  that' 
I  was  the  first  to  break  the  Transcendental  camp.  Brownson 
came  some  time  after  me. 

"  Years  later,  during  the  war,  I  went  to  Concord  to  lecture, 
and  wanted  Emerson  to  help  me    get  a  hall.      He  refused. 

"  Alcott  promised  that  he  would,  but  he  did  not,  and  I  think 
Emerson  dissuaded  him.  After  a  time,  however,  a  priest,  a  church, 
and  a  congregation  of  some  six  or  seven  hundred  Catholics 
grew  up  in  Concord,  and  I  was  invited  to  lecture,  and  I  went. 
The  pastor  attended  another  station  that  Sunday,  and  I  said  the 
Mass  and  meant  to  give  a  homily  by  way  of  sermon.  But  as  I 
was  going  to  the  altar,  all  vested  for  the  Mass,  two  men  came 
into  my  soul  :  one,  the  man  who  lived  in  that  village  in  former 
years,  a  blind  man,  groping  about  for  light,  a  soul  with  every 
problem  unsolved ;  the  other  a  man  full  of  light,  with  every 
problem  solved,  the  universe  and  the  reason  of  his  existence 
known  as  they  actually  are.  Well,  there  were  those  two  men  in 
my  soul.  I  had  to  get  rid  of  them,  so  I  preached  them  off  to 
the  people.  Some  wept,  some  laughed,  all  were  deeply  moved. 
That  night  came  the  lecture.  It  rained  pitchforks  and  pineapples, 
but  the  hall,  a  large  one,  was  completely  filled.  Multitudes  of 
Yankees  were  there.  Emerson  was  absent,  but  Alcott  was  pre- 
sent. I  had  my  lecture  all  cut  and  dried.  'Why  I  became  a 
Catholic '  was  the  subject.  But  as  I  was  about  to  begin,  up 
came  those  two  men  again,  and  for  the  life  of  me  I  couldn't 
help  firing  them  off  at  the  audience,    and   with  remarkable  effect. 


go  The  Life  of  Fatlier  Hecker. 

Next  day  I  met  Emerson  in  the  street  and  we  had  a  little  talk 
together.  None  of  those  men  are  comfortable  in  conversation 
with  an  intelligent  Catholic.  He  avoided  my  square  look,  and 
actually  kept  turning  to  avoid  my  eyes  until  he  had  quite  turned 
round !  Such  men,  confronted  with  actual,  certain  convictions 
are  exceedingly  uncomfortable.  They  feel  in  subjection  to  you. 
They  cannot  bear  the  steadfast  glance  of  a  man  of  certain '  prin- 
ciples any  better  than  a  dog  can  the  look  of  his  master.  Like 
a    dog,  they  turn  away  the    head  and  show  signs  of  uneasiness." 

From  the  memoranda,  also,  we  take  this  reminiscence  of 
George  Ripley,  the  man  whom  Father  Hecker  loved  best  of  all 
the  Transcendental  party : 

"January  23,  1885. — Seeing  my  perplexity  at  Brook  Farm, 
George  Ripley  said,  'Mr.  Hecker,  do  you  think  we  have  not  got 
true  religion  ?  If  you  think  so,  say  so.  If  you  have  views  you 
think  true,  and  which  we  ought  to  have,  let  us  hear  them.'  I 
answered,  '  No ;  I  haven't  the  truth,  but  I  am  trying  to  get  it. 
If  I  ever  succeed,  you  will  hear  from  me.  If  I  don't,  you  never 
will.  I  am  not  going  to  teach  before  I  am  certain  myself.  I 
will  not  add  myself  to  the  list  of  humbugs.' 

"Ripley  was  a  great  man;  a  wonderful  man.  But  he  was  a 
complete  failure.  I  loved  him  dearly,  and  he  knew  it,  and  he 
loved  me  ;  I  know  well  he  did.  When  I  came  back  a  Redemp- 
torist  from  Europe,  I  went  to  see  him  at  the  Tribune  office 
He  asked  me,  'Can  you  do  all  that  any  Catholic  priest  can  do?' 
'  Yes.'  '  Then  I  will  send  for  you  when  I  am  drawing  towards 
my  end.' 

"  Indeed,  if  one  could  have  gone  to  Ripley,  at  any  time 
in  his  later  years,  and  said,  '  Yofl  will  never  return  again  to 
the  society  of  men,'  and  persuaded  him  it  was  true,  he  would 
have  said  at  once,  '  Send  for  Father  Hecker  or  some  other 
Catholic  priest.'  I  am  persuaded  that  the  fear  of  facing  his 
friends  hindered  George  Ripley  from  becoming  a  Catholic.  He 
sent  for  me  when  taken  down  by  his  last  illness,  but  his 
message  was  not  delivered.  As  soon  as  I  heard  that  he  was 
ill  I  hastened  to  his  bedside,  but  his  mind  was  gone  and  I 
could  do   nothing  for  him." 

And  now,  having  given  so  fully  such  of  his  own  impressions 
as  remain  of  the  persons  and  places  which  helped  to  shape 
Father    Hecker  in    early  manhood,   we  will  terminate    the    record 


Fruit  lands.  91 


of  this  period  with  two  letters,  one  from  each  community,  which 
were  written  him  soon  after  his  return  to  New  York.  No  words 
of  our  own  could  show  so  well  the  hearty  affection  and  implicit 
trust  which  he  awakened  and  returned : 

11  Brook  Farm,  September  18,  1843. — My  DEAR  FRIEND  :  I  was 
rejoiced  to  hear  from  you,  though  you  wrote  too  short  a  letter. 
Your  beautiful  fruit,  enough  to  convert  the  direst  sceptic  to 
Grahamism,  together  with  the  pearled  wheat,  arrived  safely, 
although  a  few  days  too  late  to  be  in  perfectly  good  order.  We 
distributed  them  to  all  and  singular,  men,  women,  and  children, 
who  discussed  them  with  great  interest,  I  assure  you  ;  many,  no 
doubt,  with  silent  wishes  that  no  good  or  beautiful  thing  might 
ever  be  wanting  to  you.  I  am  glad  to  learn  that  you  are  so 
happy  in  New  York,  that  you  find  so  much  in  your  own  mind 
to  compensate  for  the  evils  of  a  city  environment,  and  that  your 
aspirations  are  not  quenched  by  the  sight  of  the  huge  disorders 
that  daily  surround  you.  I  hardly  dare  to  think  that  my  own 
faith  or  hope  would  be  strong  enough  to  reconcile  me  to  a 
return  to  common  society.  I  should  pine  like  an  imprisoned  bird, 
and  I  fear  I  should  grow  blind  to  the  visions  of  loveliness  and 
glory  which  the  future  promises  to  humanity.  I  long  for  action 
which  shall  realize  the  prophecies,  fulfil  the  Apocalypse,  bring 
the  new  Jerusalem  down  from  heaven  to  earth,  and  collect  the 
faithful  into  a  true  and  holy  brotherhood.  To  attain  this  con- 
summation so  devoutly  to  be  wished,  I  would  eat  no  flesh,  I 
would  drink  no  wine  while  the  world  lasted.  I  would  become  as 
devoted  an  ascetic  as  yourself,  my  dear  Isaac.  But  to  what  end 
is  all  speculation,  all  dreaming,  all  questioning,  but  to  advance 
humanity,  to  bring  forward  the  manifestation  of  the  Son  of  God  ? 
Oh,  for  men  who  feel  this  idea  burning  into  their  bones  !  When 
shall  we  see  them  ?  And  without  them,  what  will  be  phalanxes, 
groups  and  series,  attractive  industry,  and  all  the  sublime  words 
of  modern  reforms  ? 

"  When  will  you  come  back  to  Brook  Farm  ?  Can  you  do 
without  us  ?  Can  we  do  without  you  ?  But  do  not  come  as  an 
amateur,  a  self-perfectionizer,  an  aesthetic  self-seeker,  willing  to 
suck  the  orange  of  Association  dry  and  throw  away  the  peel. 
Oh  !  that  you  would  come  as  one  of  us,  to  work  in  the  faith  of  a 
divine  idea,  to  toil  in  loneliness  and  tears  for  the  sake  of  the 
kingdom  which  God  may  build  up  by  our  hands.  All  here,  that 
is,  all  our  old  central  members,  feel  more  and  more  the  spirit 
of  devotedness,  the  thirst  to  do  or  die,  for  the  cause  we  have 
at  heart.  We  do  not  distrust  Providence.  We  cannot  believe 
that  what  Ave  have  gained  here  of  spiritual  progress  will  be  lost 
through  want    of   material    resources.    .  At    present,    however,    we 


92  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

are  in    great  straits.      We    hardly    dare   to    provide    the    means   of 
keeping   warm   in   our  pleasant  nest   this  winter. 

"Just  look  at  our  case.  With  property  amounting  to  $30,- 
000,  the  want  of  two  or  three  thousands  fetters  us  and  may  kill 
us.  That  sum  would  free  us  from  pecuniary  embarrassment,  and 
for  want  of  that  we  work  daily  with  fetters  on  our  limbs.  Are 
there  not  five  men  in  New  York  City  who  would  dare  to  ven- 
ture $200  each  in  the  cause  of  social  reform,  without  being- 
assured  of  a  Phalanx  for  themselves  and  their  children  for  ever  ? 
Alas  !  I  know  not.  We  are  willing  to  traverse  the  wilderness 
forty  years ;  we  ask  no  grapes  of  Eshcol  for  ourselves ;  we 
do  not  claim  a  fair  abode  in  the  promised  land  ;  but  what  can 
we  do,  with  neither  quails  nor  manna,  with  raiment  waxing  old, 
and  shoes   bursting  from  our  feet  ? 

"  Forgive  me,  my  dear  Isaac,  for  speaking  so  much  about 
ourselves.  But  what  else  should  I  speak  of?  And  who  more 
sympathizing   with  our   movement   than   yourself? 

"  Do  not  be  surprised  at  receiving  this  letter  so  long  after 
date.  Not  less  than  four  times  have  I  begun  it,  and  as  often 
have  been  interrupted.  Pray  write  me  now  and  then.  Your 
words  are  always  sweet  and  pleasant  to  my  soul.  Believe  me, 
ever  yours  truly,  GEORGE   RlPLEY." 

" Harvard,  Mass.,  November  n,  1843. — Dear  Friend:  Your 
kind  letter  of  the  1st  came  duly  to  hand,  and  we  are  making 
arrangements  to  enjoy  the  benefit  of  your  healthful  bequest. 

"  Please  to  accept  thanks  for  your  sympathy  and  the  reports 
of  persons  and  things  in  your  circle.  They  have  interested  me 
much,  but  I  am  about  to  make  you  the  most  incongruous  return 
conceivable.  For  pleasure  almost  unqualified  which  you  have  con- 
ferred on  me,  I  fear  I  shall  trouble  you  with  painful  relations-;  in 
return  for  a  barrel  of  superfine  wholesome  wheat-meal,  I  am  going 
to  submit  to  you  a  peck  of  troubles.  Out  of  as  many  of  these 
as  you  lovingly  and  freely  can,  you  may  assist  me;  but,  of 
course,  you  will  understand  that  I  feel  I  have  no  claim  upon 
you.  On  the  contrary,  indeed,  I  see  that  I  run  the  hazard  of 
forfeiting  your  valued  friendship  by  thus  obtruding  my  pecuniary 
concerns  into  our  hitherto  loftier  communings.  You  know  it  to 
be  a  sentiment  of  mine  that  these  affairs  should  never  be 
obtruded  between  aesthetic  friends,  but  what  can  one  do  in  ex- 
tremity but  to  unburden  candidly  to  the  generous  ? 

"  When  I  bought  this  place,  instead  of  paying  the  whole 
$1,800,  as  I  wished,  $300  of  my  money  went  to  pay  old  debts 
with  which  I  ought  to  have  had  nothing  to  do;  and  Mrs.  Alcott's 
brother,  Samuel  J.  May,  joined  his  name  to  a  note  for  $300,  to 
be  paid  by  instalments  in  two  years.  And  now  that  the  first 
instalment  is  due,  he  sends  me  word    that  he  declines  paying  it. 


Frnitlands.  93 


As  all  my  cash  has  been  expended  in  buying  and  keeping  up 
the  affair,  I  am  left  in  a  precarious  position,  out  of  which  I  do 
not  see  the  way  without  some  loveful  aid,  and  to  you  I  venture 
freely  to  submit  my  feelings.  Above  all  things  I  should  like  to 
discharge  at  once  this  $300  note,  as  unless  that  is  done  the  place 
must,  I  fear,  fall  back  into  individuality  and  the  idea  be  sus- 
pended. Now,  if  as  much  cash  is  loose  in  your  pocket,  or  that 
•of  some  wealthy  friend,  there  shall  be  parted  off  as  much  of  the 
land  as  will  secure  its  return,  from  the  crops  alone,  in  a  few 
years ;  or,  I  would  sell  a  piece  until  I  can  redeem  it ;  or,  I 
would  meet  the  loan  in  any  other  secure  way,  if  I  can  but 
secure  the  land  from  the  demon  usury.  This  mode  seems  to  me 
the  most  desirable.  But  I  could  get  along  with  the  instalment 
of  $75,  and  would  offer  like  security  in  proportion.  Or,  if  you 
can  do  it  yourself,  and  would  prefer  the  library  as  a  pledge,  you 
shall  select  such  books  as  will  suit  your  own  reading  and  would 
cover  your  advance  in  cash  any  day  you  choose  to  put  them  up 
to  auction,  if  I  should  fail  to  redeem  them.  Or,  I  would  give  my 
notes  of  hand  that  I  could  meet  by  sales  of  produce  or  of  land. 
If  I  had  the  benefit  of  your  personal  counsel,  we  could  contrive 
something  between  us,  I  am  sure,  but  I  have  no  such  aid  about 
me.  The  difficulty  in  itself  is  really  light,  but  to  me,  under 
present  circumstances,  is  quite  formidable.  If  at  your  earliest 
convenience  you  acquaint  me  with  your  mind,  you  will  much 
oblige. 

"  I  have  another  trouble  of  a  personal  nature.  I  suffer  already 
this  winter  from  the  inclemency  of  the  weather,  so  much  that 
my  hands  are  so  chapped  that  I  can  scarcely  hold  the  pen.  If 
I  could  find  employment  in  a  more  southern  position  that  would 
support  me  and  the  boy,  and  leave  a  little  to  be  applied  to  the 
common  good,  I  would  undertake  it.  I  think  I  could  at  the 
same  time  be  of  some  mental  and  moral  service  to  the  people 
where  I  might  be  located. 

"Another  trouble.  Young  William  has  been  very  ill  for  the 
last  month,  brought  on,  I  believe,  by  excessive  work.  He  is 
still  very  weak,   and  has  not  sat  up  for  three    weeks. 

"  All  these,  besides  sundry  slighter  plagues,  coming  upon 
me  at  once,  have  perhaps  a  little  disconcerted  my  nerves,  and 
the  advice  and  assistance  of  a  generous  friend  at  such  a  junc- 
ture would  be  indeed  serviceable.  If  the  journey  were  not  so 
long  and  so  costly  I  would  ask  you  to  come.  Be  assured  that 
whatever  may  be  your  decision  in  any  of  these  relations,  my 
esteem  for  you  cannot  be  thereby  diminished.  My  only  fear 
is  that  such  encroachments  on  your  good  nature  will  reduce 
your    estimation    cf,    dear  friend,  yours  most    sincerely, 

Charles  Lane. 


94  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 

"  Regards  to  the  Doctor  and  all  friends.  The  Shakers  have 
kindly  inquired  for  you,  and  they  still  take  much  interest  in 
our  life.  Have  you  seen  the  last  Dial?  The  Present  is  good, 
but  surely  not  good  enough.  I  hope  to  write  a  more  universal 
letter    in    response    to  your    next,    for    which    I    wait." 

Poor  Lane,  failing  to  find  any  equally  confiding  and  gen- 
erous friend  to  shoulder  with  him  the  personal  debts  of  the 
founder  of  Fruitlands,  was  compelled  at  last  to  let  the  farm 
"  lapse  into  individuality "  and  to  see  "  the  idea  suspended." 
In  his  next  and  "more  universal  letter"  he  announces  that 
the  experiment  is  ended  in  consequence  of  Mrs.  Alcott's  refusal 
to  remain  on  the  place  through  the  winter.  Lane  went  over 
to  the  neighboring  Shaker  community,  and  from  there  to 
England,  where  Father  Hecker  met  him  during  his  own  re- 
sidence at  Clapham,  after  his  ordination.  His  letters  followed 
Father  Hecker  for  several  years,  and  breathe  always  the  same 
unselfishness,  the  same  simple  trust  in  human  goodness,  and 
the    same  fondness    for    speculations  on  "the  universal." 


CHAPTER    IX. 

SELF-QUESTIONINGS. 

NOT  finding  any  solution  of  his  spiritual  difficulties  at  either 
Fruitlands  or  Brook  Farm,  Isaac  Hecker  turned  his  face  once 
more  toward  the  home  from  which  he  had  departed  nearly  a 
year  before.  He  expected  little  from  this  step,  but  his  state  of 
mind  was  now  one  in  which  he  had  begun  to  anticipate,  at  any  turn, 
some  light  on  the  dispositions  of  Providence  in  his  regard  which 
might  determine  his  course  for  good  and  all.  And,  meantime,  as 
patient  waiting  was  all  that  lay  in  his  own  power,  it  seemed 
the  wisest  course  to  yield  to  the  solicitations  of  his  kindred  and 
abide  results  in  his  own  place.  He  did  not  go  there  at  once, 
however,  after  quitting  Alcott's  community,  but  returned  to  Brook 
Farm  for  a  fortnight.  His  journal  during  this  period  offers  many 
pages  worthy  of  transcription. 

It  is  possible  that  we  have  readers  who  may  deem  us  too 
copious  in  our  quotations  from  this  source.  But,  if  wearisome  to 
any,  yet  they  are  necessary  to  those  for  whom  this  Life  is  espe- 
cially written.  The  lessons  to  be  learned  from  Father  Hecker 
are  mainly  those  arising  from  the  interaction  between  God's  super- 
natural dealings  with  him,  and  his  own  natural  characteristics. 
This  fact,  moreover,  is  typical  as  well  as  personal,  for  the  great 
question  of  his  day,  which  was  the  dawning  of  our  own,  was  the 
relation  of  the  natural  man  to  the  regenerating  influences  of 
Christianity.  This  being  so,  it  is  plain  to  our  own  mind  that  no 
adequate  representation  of  the  man  could  be  made  without  a 
free  use  of  these  early  journals.  They  seem  to  us  one  of  the 
chief  Providential  results  of  the  spiritual  isolation  of  his  youth. 
He  was  in  a  manner  driven  to  this  intimate  self-communing,  on 
one  hand  by  his  never-satisfied  craving  for  sympathetic  compan- 
ionship, and  on  the  other  by  his  complete  unacquaintance  with 
a  kind  of  reading  which  even  at  this  point  might  have  shed  some 
light  upon  his  interior  difficulties.  In  later  years  he  enjoyed,  in 
the  study  of  accredited  Christian  mystics,  that  kind  of  satisfac- 
tion which  a  traveller  experiences  who,  after  long  wanderings  in 
what  had  seemed  a  trackless  desert,  obtains  a  map  which  not 
only  makes  his  whole  route  plain,  but  assures  him  that  he  did 
not  stray  from  well-known  paths  even  during  his  times  of  most 
extreme  bewilderment. 

95 


g6  The  Life  of  FatJier  Hccker. 

That  the  diary  has  the  character  we  here  claim  for  it,  and  is 
not  the  mere  ordinary  result  of  a  morbid  and  aimless  introspec- 
tion, is  plainly  shown  by  the  speedy  cessation  of  excessive 
self-analysis  on  Father  Hecker's  part,  after  he  had  actually 
reached  the  goal  to  which  he  was  at  this  period  alternately 
sweetly  led  and  violently  driven.  But  it  is  also  shown  by  the 
deep  humility  which  is  revealed  precisely  by  this  sharp  probing 
of  his  interior.  Though  he  felt  himself  in  touch  with  God  in 
some  special  way,  yet  it  was  with  so  little  pride  that  it  was  his 
profound  conviction,  as  it  remained,  indeed,  throughout  his  life, 
that  what  he  had  all  had  or  might  have.  But  the  study  of  his 
interior  thus  forced  upon  him  was  far  from  a  pleasing  task.  "  It 
is  exceedingly  oppressive  to  me  to  write  as  I  now  do,"  we  find 
him  complaining;  "continually  does  myself  appear  in  my  writing. 
I  would  that  my  I  were  wholly  lost  in  the  sea  of  the  Spirit — 
wholly  lost  in  God." 

We  preface  the  subjoined  extract  from  the  diary  with  the  re- 
mark that  Father  Hecker's  reading  of  signs  of  the  Divine  will  in 
men  and  events  often  brought  him  to  the  verge  of  credulity,  over 
which  he  was  prevented  from  stepping  by  his  shrewd  native 
sense.  Though  he  insisted  all  his  life  on  interpreting  them  as 
signal  flags  of  the  Divine  wisdom,  this  did  not  hinder  him  from 
gaining  a  reputation  for  sound  practical  judgment: 

"Brook  Farm,  July  31,  1843. — Man  is  the  symbol  of  all  mys- 
teries. Why  is  it  that  all  things  seem  to  me  to  be  instinct  with 
prophecy?  I  do  not  see  any  more  individual  personalities,  but 
priests  and  oracles  of  God.  The  age  is  big  with  a  prophecy 
which  it  is  in  labor  to  give  birth   to." 

"  My  experience  is  different  now  from  what  it  has  been.  It  is 
much  fuller;  every  fibre  of  my  being  seems  teeming  with  sensi- 
tive life.  I  am  in  another  atmosphere  of  sentiment  and  thought. 
I  have  less  real  union  and  sympathy  with  her,  and  with 
those  whom  I  have  met  much  nearer  heretofore.  It  appears  as 
if  their  atmosphere  was  denser,  their  life  more  natural,  more  in 
the  flesh.  Instead  of  meeting  them  on  my  highest,  I  can  only 
do  so  by  coming  down  into  my  body,  of  which  it  seems  to  me 
that  I  am  now  almost  unconscious.  There  is  not  that  sense  of 
heaviness,  dulness,  fleshliness,  in  me.  I  experience  no  natural 
desires,  no    impure    thoughts,  nor    wanderings   of    fancy.     Still,  I 


Self-  Questionings.  97 


feel  more  intensely,  and  am  filled  to  overflowing  with  love,  and 
with  desire  for  union.  But  there  is  no  one  to  meet  me  where  I 
am,  and  I  cannot  meet  them  where  they  are." 

All  his  life  Father  Hecker  was  on  the  lookout  for  the  great 
human  influences  which  run  across  those  of  religion,  either  to 
swell  their  volume  or  to  lessen  cneir  force.  These  are  mainly 
the  transmissions  of  heredity,  and  the  environments  that  are  racial, 
temporal,  epochal,  or  local.  This  enduring  tendency  is  fore- 
shadowed in  the  following  extracts  : 

"August  2,  1843. — I  have  been  thinking  much  of  late  about 
the  very  great  influence  which  nationality  and  the  family  progen- 
itors have  upon  character.  Men  talk  of  universality,  impartiality, 
many-sidedness,  free  judgment,  unbiased  opinion,  and  so  on, 
when  in  reality  their  national  and  family  dispositions  are  the 
centre  and  ground  of  their  being,  and  hence  of  their  opinions. 
They  appear  to  be  most  themselves  when  they  show  these  traits 
of  character.  They  are  most  natural  and  earnest  and  at  home 
when  they  speak  from  this  link  which  binds  them  to  the  past. 
Then  their  hearts  are  opened,  and  they  speak  with  a  glow  of 
eloquence  and  a  peculiar  unction  which  touch  the  same  chord  in 
the  breasts  of  those  who  hear  them.  It  is  well  for  man  to  feel 
his  indebtedness  to  the  past  which  lives  in  him  and  without 
which  he  would  not  be  what  he  is.  He  is  far  more  its  creature 
than  he  gives  himself  credit  for.  He  reproduces  daily  the  senti- 
ments and  thoughts  of  the  dim  and  obscure  before.  There  are 
certain  ideas  and  aspirations  which  have  not  had  their  fulfilment, 
but  which  run  through  all  men  from  the  beginning  and  which 
are  continually  reproduced.  There  is  a  unity  of  race,  called 
Humanity  ;  one  of  place,  called  Nationality ;  one  of  birth,  called 
Kindred ;  one  of  affinity,  called  Love  and  Friendship.  By  all 
these  we  are  greatly  influenced.  They  all  make  their  mark  upon 
the  man." 

"  The  faculties  which  take  cognizance  of  the  inner  world  have 
been  awakened  in  only  a  few  of  the  human  race,  and  these,  to 
distinguish  them,  have  been  called  prophets,  miracle-workers, 
Providential  men,  seers,  and  poets.  Now,  their  privilege  is  that 
of  all  men  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  just  as  is  the  case  with 
regard  to  the  faculties  which  relate  to  the  outward  world.  For 
when  men  in  general  were  as  ignorant  about  the  exterior  world 
as    they    now    are    about    the    interior,    the    men    of    science,    the 


98  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 

astronomers,  the  mathematicians,  the  founders  of  the  arts,  were 
held  to  be  miraculous,  gods,  and  they  were  deified.  What  any- 
one man  (and  this  is  a  most  comfortable  and  cheering  thought) 
has  been  or  has  done,  all  men  may  in  a  measure  be  or  do,  for 
each  is  a  type,  a  specimen  of  the  whole  human  race.  If  it  is 
said  in  reply,  'These  miracles  or  great  acts,  which  you  hold  as 
actual,  are  mere  superstitious  dreams,'  I  care  not.  That  would 
be  still  more  glorious  for  us,  for  then  they  are  still  to  be  per- 
formed, they  are  in  the  coming  time,  these  divine  prophetic 
instincts  are  yet  to  be  actualized.  The  dreams  of  Orpheus,  the 
inspired  strains  of  the  Hebrew  bards,  and,  above  all,  the  prophe- 
cies of  Christ,  are  before  us.  The  divine  instincts  will  be  realized 
as  surely  as  there  is  a  God  above  who  inspires  them.  It  is  the 
glory  of  God  that  they  should  be  so;  it  is  His  delight.  This 
world  must  become  heaven.  This  is  its  destiny  ;  and  our  destiny, 
under  God,  is  to  make  it  so.  Prophecy  is  given  to  encourage 
and  nourish  our  hopes  and  feed  our  joys,  so  that  we  may  say 
with  Job,  '  I  know  that  although  worms  shall  eat  this  flesh,  and 
my  bones  become  dust,  yet  at  the  latter  day  I  shall  see  my 
Redeemer  face  to  face.'  " 

The  sentences  which  follow  can  be  paralleled  by  words  taken 
from  all  who  have  truly  interpreted  the  doctrine  of  Christ  by  their 
lives  or  their  writings: 

"  To  him  that  has  faith  all  things  are  possible,  for  faith  is 
an  act  of  the  soul;  thy  faith  is  the  measure   of  thy  power." 

"If men  would  act  from  the  present  inspiration  of  their  sOuls 
they  would  gain  more  knowledge  than  they  do  by  reading  or 
speculating." 

"  No  man  in  his  heart  can  ask  for  more  than  he  has.  Think 
of  this  deeply.  God  is  just.  We  have  what  we  ought  to  have, 
even  according  to  our  own  sense  of  justice." 

"  The  desire  to  love  and  be  beloved,  to  have  friends  with 
whom  we  can  converse,  to  enter  society  which  we  enjoy — is  it 
not  best  to  deny  and  sacrifice  these  desires  ?  It  may  be  said 
that,  gratified,  they  add  to  life,  and  the  question  is  how  to 
increase  life,  not  how  to  diminish  it.  But  by  denying  them, 
would  not  our  life  gain  by  flowing  in  a  more  heavenly  di- 
rection ?  " 

"  We  are  daily  feeding    the    demons    that   are    in    us    by    our 


Self-  Questionings.  99 


wicked  thoughts  and  sinful  acts  ;  these  are  their  meat  and  drink. 
I  make  them  gasp  sometimes.  My  heart  laughs  quite  merrily  to 
think  of  it.  When  I  am  hungry,  and  there  is  something  tempt- 
ing on  the  table,  hunger,  like  a  serpent,  comes  creeping  up  into 
my  throat  and  laps  its  dry  tongue  with  eagerness  for  its  prey, 
but   it  often    returns  chagrined  at  its  discomfiture." 

"  That  which  tempts  us  we  should  deny,  no  matter  how 
innocent  it  is  in  itself.  If  it  tempts,  away  with  it,  until  it  tempts 
no  more.  Then  partake  of  it,  for  it  is  then  only  that  you  can 
do   so  prudently  and  with  temperance." 

"All  our  thoughts  and  emotions  are  caused  by  some  agent 
acting  on  us.  This  is  true  of  all  the  senses  and  the  spiritual 
faculties.  Hence  we  should  by  all  possible  means  purify  and 
refine  our  organism,  so  that  we  may  hear  the  most  delicate,  the 
sweetest,  the  stillest  sounds  and  murmurings  of  the  angels  who 
are  about  us.  How  much  fuller  and  richer  would  be  our  life  if 
we  were  more  acutely  sensitive  and  finely  textured!  How  many 
exquisite  delights  nature  yields  which  we  are  not  yet  aware  of! 
What  a  world  surrounds  us  of  which  none  but  holy  men, 
prophets,  and  poets  have  had  a  glimpse  !  " 

"  The  soul  is  a  plate  on  which  the  senses  daguerreotype 
indelibly  pictures  of  the  outer  world.  How  cautious  should  we 
be  where  we  look,  what  we  hear,  what  smell,  or  feel,  or  taste ! 
And  how  we  should  endeavor  that  all  around  us  should  be  made 
beautiful,  musical,  fragrant,  so  that  our  souls  may  be  awakened 
to  a  divine  sense  of  life  without  a  moment's  interruption!" 

"  O  God,  be  Thou  my  helper,  my  strength  and  my  redeemer! 
May  I  live  wholly  to  Thee ;  give  me  grace  and  obedience  to 
Thy  Spirit.  May  all  self  be  put  from  me  so  that  I  may  enter 
into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God.  Awaken  me,  raise 
me  up,  restore    me,  O  Jesus  Christ,  Lord,  Heavenly  King!" 

In  reading  what  next  follows  it  must  be  remembered  that  at 
the  time  when  it  was  written  Isaac  Hecker  had  absolutely  no 
knowledge  of  Catholic  mystical  theology.  It  is  since  that  day 
that  English-speaking  Catholics  have  had  access  to  the  great 
authorities    on    this    subject    through    adequate    translations.      But 


ioo  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 

what  little  he  had  learned  from  other  sources,  combined  with 
his  own  intuitional  and  experimental  knowledge  of  human  capa- 
bilities for  penetrating  the  veil,  had  already  furnished  him  with 
conclusions  which  nothing  in  his  devoted  study  of  Catholic  mys- 
tical writers  forced  him  to  lay  aside  : 

"  Belief  in  the  special  guidance  of  God  has  been  the  faith  of 
all  deeply  religious  men.  I  will  not  dispute  the  fact  that  some 
men  are  so  guided,  but  will  offer  an  explanation  of  it  which 
seems  to  me  to  reconcile  it  with  the  regular  order  of  laws  estab- 
lished by  God.  My  explanation  would  be  that  this  guidance  is 
not  a  miraculous  power,  specially  bestowed  upon  some  men,  but 
merely  a  higher  degree  of  ordinary  divine  guidance.  Our  ordi- 
nary life  is  inspired  ;  the  other  is  only  a  higher  degree  of  what 
is  common  to  all.  The  evil  which  arises  from  the  contrary 
opinion  is  this :  men  who  have  received  a  higher  degree  of 
insight  believe  that  it  is  a  special  miraculous  gift,  and  that  all 
they  may  say  is  infallibly  true,  whereas  they  still  retain  their 
own  individuality  though  raised  to  a  purer  state  of  being. 
They  have  not  been  so  raised  in  order  to  found  new  sects,  or 
to  cause  revolutions,  but  to  fulfil  the  old,  continue  and  carry  it 
on  as  far  as  they  have  been  given  light  to  do  so.  In  forming 
new  sects  they  but  reproduce  their  own  individualities  with  all 
their  errors.  So  Swedenborg  did,  and  Wesley,  men  of  modern 
times  who  were  awakened  in  a  greater  degree  than  the  mass  of 
their  fellows.  Their  mistake  lay  in  their  attempt  to  make 
universal  ends  out  of  their  individual  experiences.  In  the  ordi- 
nary state  no  man  does  this,  but  these,  being  lifted  a  little 
above  the  mass,  became  intoxicated.  The  only  one,  so  far  as  I 
have  read,  who  has  had  humility  equal  to  his  inspiration  was 
Jacob  Boehmen.  Luther,  Calvin,  Fox,  Penn,  Swedenborg,  Wesley, 
had  self  in  view.  Selfism  is  mixed  with  their  universalism.  None 
has  spoken  truth  so  pure  and  universal  as  Boehmen.  He  is  the 
most  inspired  man  of  modern  times.  He  had  more  love  and 
truth  than  all  the  other  mystics  put  together,  and  fewer  faults 
than   either  one  of  them  taken  singly." 


CHAPTER    X. 

AT   HOME    AGAIN. 

IT  was  the  middle  of  August,  1843,  when  Isaac  Hecker  once 
more  took  up  his  residence  with  his  family  in  New  York.  His 
first  endeavor  was  to  sink  back  again  as  far  as  possible  into  the 
old  routine  of  business. 

"To-morrow  I  commence  to  work,"  he  writes  on  the  evening 
of  his  return.  "  My  interior  state  is  quiet  and  peaceful.  I  have 
not  met  any  one  yet.  My  dear  mother  understands  me  better 
than  any  one  else.  How  far  business  will  interfere  with  my  inner 
life  remains  to  be  seen.  O  Lord  !  help  me  to  keep  my  resolution, 
which  is  not  to  let  the  world  enter  my  heart,  but  to  keep  it 
looking  toward  Thee  !  My  heart  has  been  in  a  constant  prayer- 
ful state  since  I  have  been  at  home.  It  is  busy  in  its  own 
sanctuary,   its  own  temple,   God.      O   Lord  !    preserve  it." 

One  of  the  first  noteworthy  things  reveaied  by  the  diary — 
which  from  this  time  on  was  kept  with  less  regularity  than  before — 
is  that  Isaac  not  only  maintained  his  abstemious  habits  after  his 
return,  but  increased  their  rigor.  For  a  robust  man,  working 
hard  for  many  hours  out  of  every  twenty-four,  and  deprived  of 
all  the  pleasant  relaxations,  literary,  conversational  and  musical, 
to  which  he  had  been  accustoming  himself  for  many  months,  the 
choice  of  such  a  diet  as  is  described  in  the  following  sentences 
was  certainly  extraordinary  : 

"August  30. — If  the  past  nine  months  or  more  are  any  evi- 
dence, I  find  that  I  can  live  on  very  simple  diet — grains,  fruit, 
and  nuts.  I  have  just  commenced  to  eat  the  latter;  I  drink 
pure  water.  So  far  I  have  had  wheat  ground  and  made  into  un- 
leavened bread,  but  as  soon  as  we  get  in  a  new  lot,  I  shall  try 
it  in  the  grain." 

He  had  evidently  at  this  time  a  practical  conviction  of  the 
truth  of  a  principle  which,  in  after  years,  he  repeated  to  the 
present  writer  in  the  form  of  a  maxim  of  the  transcendentalists  : 
"A  gross  feeder  will  never  be  a  central  thinker."  It  is  a  truth  of 
the  spiritual  no  less  than  of  the  intellectual  order.      A  little  later  we 


102  The  Life  of  Father  Hcckcr. 

come  upon  the  following  profession    of   a    vegetarian  faith,   which 
will  be  apt  to  amuse  as  well  as  to  edify  the  reader : 

"  Reasons  for  not  eating  animal  food. 

"  It  does  not  feed  the  spirit. 

"  It  stimulates  the  propensities. 

"  It  is  taking  animal  life  when  the  other  kingdoms  offer  suffi- 
cient and  better  increment. 

"  Slaughter  strengthens  the  lower  instincts. 

"  It  is  the  chief  cause  of  the  slavery  of  the  kitchen. 

"  It  generates  in  the  body  the  diseases  animals  are  subject  to, 
and  encourages  in  man  their  bestiality. 

"  Its  odor  is  offensive  and  its  appearance  unaesthetic." 

The  apprehension  under  which  he  had  labored,  that  city  life 
would  present  many  temptations  which  he  would  find  it  difficult 
to  withstand,  appears  to  have  been  unfounded.  Some  few  social 
relaxations  he  now  and  then  permitted  himself,  but  they  were 
mostly  very  sober-toned.  "  Last  evening  I  attended  a  Methodist 
love-feast,"  is  his.  record  of  one  of  these.  "  In  returning  I 
stopped  at  the  ward  political  meeting."  Then  he  notes  that 
although  the  business  he  follows  is  especially  full  of  temptations — 
as  no  doubt  it  was  to  a  man  keeping  so  tight  a  rein  over  his 
most  natural  and  legitimate  appetites — he  feels  deeply  grateful 
that,  so  far,  he  has  had  no  need  to  fear  his  being  led  away. 
"  What  yet  remains  ?  "  he  adds.  "  My  diet  is  all  purchased  and 
all  produced  by  hired  labor.  I  suppose  that  slave  labor  pro- 
duces almost  all  my  dress.  And  I  cannot  say  that  I  am  rightly 
conditioned   until    all   I   eat,   drink,  and  wear  is  produced  by  love." 

It  was  a  vivid  recollection  of  these  early  efforts  after  an  ascetic 
perfection  which  had  neither  guide  nor  definite  plan,  which 
prompted  the  following  vigorous  self-appreciation,  made  by  Father 
Hecker  two  years  before  his  death.  He  had  been  speaking  of 
some  of  his  youthful  experiments  in  this  direction,  and  ended 
with   an  amused  laugh  and  the  ejaculation, 

"  Thank  God !  He  led  me  into  the  Catholic  Church.  If  it 
hadn't  been  for  that  I  should  have  been  one  of  the  worst  cranks 
in  the  world." 

Here    are    two    expressions    taken    from    the    diary  of    a    per- 


At  Home  Again.  103 


manent    fact    of    Father     Hecker's    individuality.      They    help    to 
explain   why  he   was   misunderstood   by  many  in   later  years: 

"  Men  have  fear  to  utter  absurdities.  The  head  is  sceptical 
of  the  divine  oracles  of  the  heart,  and  before  she  utters  them 
she  clothes  them  in  such  a  fantastic  dress  that  men  hear  the 
words  but  lose  the  life,  the  thought." 

"We  often  act  to  be  understood  by  the  heart,  not  by  the 
head ;  and  when  the  head  speaks  of  its  having  understood,  we 
deny  its  understanding.  It  is  the  secret  sympathy  of  the  heart 
which  is  the  only  response  that  is  looked  for.  Speech  is  cold, 
profane." 

This  must  recall,  to  those  who  were  intimate  with  Father 
Hecker,  how  often  he  arrived  at  his  own  convictions  by  discuss- 
ing them  with  others  while  they  were  yet  but  partially  formed. 
It  is  a  custom  with  many  to  do  so,  mind  assisting  mind,  nega- 
tion provoking  affirmation,  doubt  vanishing  with  the  utterance 
of  the  truth.  In  Father  Hecker's  case  his  perfect  frankness  led 
him,  when  among  his  own  friends,  to  utter  half- formed  ideas, 
sometimes  sounding  startling  and  erroneous,  but  spoken  with  a 
view  to  get  them  into  proper  shape.  At  such  times  it  required 
patience  to  know  just  what  he  meant,  for  he  never  found  it  the 
easiest  to  employ  terms  whose  meaning  was  conventional. 

By  the  first  of  September  such  faint  hopes  as  Isaac  had 
entertained  of  adapting  himself  to  the  conditions  of  his  home  in 
New  York  were  well-nigh  dissipated.  But  a  certain  natural 
timidity,  joined  with  the  still  complete  uncertainty  he  felt  as  to 
what  his  true  course  should  be,  made  him  dissemble  his  disquiet 
so  long  as  it  was  bearable.  After  a  month  or  two,  by  a  mutual 
agreement  between  his  brothers  and  himself  which  exonerated 
him  from  much  of  the  manual  labor  which  they  still  shared  with 
the  men  in  their  employment,  he  devoted  himself  to  an  occupa- 
tion more  accordant  to  his  mind.  He  set  to  work  to  make 
single  beds  and  private  rooms  for  the  workmen,  contriving  various 
conveniences  and  means  of  occasional  solitude  for  them,  and  in 
other  ways  doing  all  in  his  power  to  achieve  for  them  the  pri- 
vileges he  found  so  necessary  for  himself.  Of  these  efforts  we 
get  occasional  glimpses  in  the  diary.  But  it  is,  in  the  main, 
devoted  to  more  impersonal  and  larger  topics,  and  the  facts  of 
his  daily  employment,  as  just  given,  have  been  gained  from  other 
sources 


104  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

"  September  i. — There  are  two  ways  in  which  the  spirit  may 
live  itself  out.  One  is  to  leave  all  these  conditions,  purchase  a 
spot  of  ground,  and  live  according  to  its  daily  dictates.  The 
other  is  to  make  these  conditions  as  harmonic '  as  possible  by 
giving  the  men  "  (workmen)  "  an  associative  interest  in  the 
accumulations  of  our  associative  labor.  Both  extremes  require 
renunciation  of  property  and  of  self.  Love,  universal  love  is  the 
ruler,  and  only  by  it  can  the  spirit  find  peace  or  be  crowned 
with  the  highest  happiness." 

"  The  mystery  of  man's  being,  the  unawakened  capacities  in 
him,  we  are  not  half  aware  of.  A  few  of  the  race,  the  prophets, 
sages,  and  poets,  give  us  a  glimpse  of  his  high  destiny.  Alas  ! 
that  men  should  be  on  the  borders  of  such  mighty  truths  and 
stand  as  blind  and  dumb  as  lower  animals  before  them  !  " 

"  Balaam  sometimes,  but  ignorantly,  utters  true  prophecies. 
A  remark  I  heard  to-day  leads  me  to  say  this.  Speaking  of 
diet  a  man  said  :  '  Why,  what  do  you  intend  ?  At  last  you  will 
have  men  to  live  on  God.'  We  must  become  God -like,  or  God- 
full.  Live  as  He  lives,  become  one  with  Him.  Until  we  are 
reconciled  with  our  Father  we  are  aliens,  prodigals.  Until  we 
can  say,  My  Father  and  I  are  one,  we  have  not  commenced  to 
be.  We  must  fulfil  what  the  Apostle  said  (and  it  means,  per- 
haps, more  than  we  commonly  imagine)  :  '  In  God  we  live  and 
move  and  have  our  bein^.'  " 


'£>• 


"  The  deeper  and    more    profound  a  truth    is,  the    less   proof 
can  you  give  in  its  support." 

"  September  8. — On  the  evening  of  the  6th  I  went  to  see  the 
French  Opera  Company  in  Auber's  'Black  Domino.'  It  did  not 
please  me  as  well  as  some  music  I  have  heard,  though  parts  of 
it  were  very  beautiful.  The  hymns  of  the  nuns  were  very 
sweet.  The  thought  occurred  to  me  that  if  the  Church  does 
not  provide  religious  gratifications  for  the  true  wants  of  humanity, 
she  must  be  silent  if  men  feed  them  profanely.  It  is  because 
the  Church  has  not  done  her  duty  that  there  are  so  many 
secular  societies  for  Reformation,  Temperance,  and  so  on.  The 
Church  has  provided  for  the  salvation  of  the  sinner's  soul  by 
means  of  spiritual    acts,  such    as    prayer,  penance,  the    Eucharist 


At  Home  Again.  105 


and    other    sacraments.      But    now    she    must    provide    terrestrial    / 
sacraments  for  the  salvation  and  transfiguration  of  the  body." 

"  We  should  strive  constantly  to  actualize  the  ideal  we  per- 
ceive. When  we  do  realize  all  the  beauty  and  holiness  that  we 
see,  we  are  not  called  to  deny  ourselves,  for  then  we  are  living 
as  fully  on  all  sides  as  we  have  capacity  to  do.  Are  we  not  in 
this  state  ?  Then,  if  we  are  sincere,  we  will  give  up  lower  and 
unnecessary  gratifications  for  the  sake  of  the  ideal  we  have  in 
view. 

"  I  would  die  to  prove  my  immortality." 

"  At  times  we  are  called  to  rely  o;i  Providence,  to  be  im- 
prudent and  reckless  according  to  the  wisdom  of  the  world.  So 
I  am  willing  to  be  thought.  Each  of  us  has  an  individual  char- 
acter to  act  out,  under  the  inspiration  of  God,  and  this  is  the 
highest  and  noblest  we  can  do.  We  are  forms  differing  from  one 
another,  and  if  we  are  acting  under  the  inspirations  of  the  High-f[ 
est,  we  are  doing  our  uttermost ;  more  the  angels  do  not.  What 
tends  to  hinder  us  from  realizing  the  ideal  which  our  vision  sees 
must  be  denied,  be  it  self,   wealth,  opinion,   or  death." 

"The  Heart  says,  'Be  all  that  you  can.'  The  Intellect  says, 
'  When  you  are  all  that  you  can  be — what  then  ? '  " 

"  Infinite  love  is  the  basis  of  the  smallest  act  of  love,  and 
when  we  love  with  our  whole  being,  we  are  in  and  one 
with  God." 

"  Increase  thy  love  by  being  true  to  that  thou  hast  if  thou 
wouldst  be  nearer  to  God." 

'  To  love  is  to  lose  one's  self  and  gain  God.  To  be  all  in 
love  is  to  be  one  with  God." 

"When  the  Spirit  begets  us,  we  are  no  more;  the  Spirit  is, 
and  there  is  nothing  else." 

"  There  is  much  debauchery  in  speaking  wilfully. 

"  Every  act  of  self  is  sin,  is  a  lie.  "^ 

"  The  Spirit  will  lead  you  into  solitude  and   silence    if   it    has  » 
something  to  teach  you. 

'  You  must  be  born  again  to  know  the  truth.  It  cannot  be 
inculcated. 


106  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

"  To  educate  is  to  bring  forth,  not  to  put  in.  To  put  in  is 
death  ;   to  flow  out  is  life." 

Lest  the  reader  may  have  got  an  impression,  from  any  of 
the  extracts  already  given,  that  Isaac  Hecker  was  puffed  up  by 
the  pride  of  his  own  innocence,  we  transcribe  what  follows.  It 
shows  that  he  did  not  fall  under  the  Apostle's  condemnation: 
"  If  we  say  that  we  have  no  sin,  we  deceive  ourselves,  and  the 
truth  is  not  in  us."  It  was  written  on  the  last  Sunday  of  Sep- 
tember, and,  after  this  long  outpouring  of  confession,  longing, 
and  weakness,  the  diary  was  not  again  resumed  for  nearly  a 
month.  The  desire  expressed  in  its  second  paragraph  for  the 
kind  of  spiritual  refreshment  which  in  after  years  he  so  often 
enjoyed  under  the  name  of  a  "  retreat,"  seems  noteworthy. 

"September  24,  1843. — The  human  heart  is  wicked  above  all 
things.  The  enemy  of  man  is  subtle  and  watchful  beyond  con- 
ception. Instead  of  being  on  the  way  of  goodness,  I  am  just 
finding  out  the  wickedness  of  my  nature,  its  crookedness,  its  im- 
purity, its  darkness.  I  want  deep  humility  and  forgetfulness  of 
self.  I  am  just  emerging  out  of  gross  darkness  and  my  sight  is 
but  dim,  so  that  my  iniquities  are  not  wholly  plain  to  my  vision. 

"  At  present  I  feel  as  if  a  week  of  quiet  silence  would  be  the 
means  of  opening  more  deeply  the  still  flowing  fountains  of  divine 
life.  I  would  cut  off  all  relations  but  that  of  my  soul  with  the 
Spirit — all  others  seem  intrusions,  worldly,  frivolous.  The  in- 
pouring  of  the  Spirit  is  checked  by  so  much  attention  to  other 
than  divine  things.  In  the  bustle  and  noisy  confusion  its  voice 
is  unheard. 

"  I  feel  that  one  of  my  greatest  weaknesses,  because  it  leads 
me  to  so  much  sin,  is  my  social  disposition.  It  draws  me  so 
often  into  perilous  conversations,  and  away  from  silence  and 
meditation  with  the  Spirit.  Lately  I  have  felt  almost  ready  to 
say  that  good  works  are  a  hindrance  to  the  gate  of  heaven. 
Pride  and  self-approbation  are  so  often  mixed  with  them.  I  feel 
that  nothing  has  been  spoken  against  the  vain  attempt  to  trust 
in  good  works  which  my  soul  does  not  fully  accord  with.  This 
is  a  new,  a  very  new  experience  for  me." 

The  foregoing  must  be  understood  in  the  sense  of  good 
works  hindering    better  works.      Isaac  Hecker  felt  his  noblest   as- 


At  Home  Again.  107 


pirations  to  be,  for  the  moment  at  any  rate,  towards  solitude 
and  the  passive  state  of  prayer ;  and  in  this  he  was  hindered  by 
the  urgency  of  his  zeal  for  the  propagation  of  philanthropic 
schemes  and  his  great  joy  in  communing  with  men  whom  he 
hoped  to  find  like-minded  with  himself.  The  time  came  when 
he  was  able  to  join  the  two  states,  the  inner  purifying  the  outer 
man  and  directing  his  energies  by  the  instinct  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
This  entry  goes  on  as  follows  : 

"  By  practice  of  our  aspirations,  ideals,  and  visions,  we  con- 
vert them  into  real  being. 

"  We  should  be  able  to  say,  '  Which  of  you  convinceth  me 
of  sin  ? '  before  we  are  fit  to  preach  to  others  in  such  a  way 
that  our  preaching  may  have  a  practical  effect  upon  society. 

"  Did  all  our  efforts  flow  into  realizing  the  teachings  of 
the  Spirit,  we  should  do  much  more  good  and  be  greater  in 
the  sight  of  God  than  we  are  now  by  so  much  speaking  and 
writing.  But  let  us  be  watchful  that  the  pride  of  good  works 
does  not  take  the  place  of  that  of  speaking  and  writing. 

"  By  our  sins  and  many  weaknesses  we  are  prevented  from 
entering  the  Promised  Land,  and  must  die  just  in  sight  of  it. 
Instead  of  being  humble,  willing,  and  self-denying  in  our  youth, 
and  being  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  we  keep  on  in  the  spirit 
of  the  world  and  give  all  the  substance  of  our  being  to  its 
service.  And  when  we  are  nearly  worn  out  we  flee  to  God,  and 
die,  perhaps,  in  sight  of  heaven,  instead  of  having  been  among 
its  inhabitants,  living  in  it  upon  earth,  in  the  full  bloom  of  our 
youthful  joy  of  life. 

"  The  Lord  has  been  good  to  me  and  my  heart  is  filled 
with  His  warm  love.  Blessed  be  Thou,  O  God  !  for  Thou  hast 
given  me  a  taste  of  Thy  sweetness.  Thou  hast  given  me  gra- 
titude and  thankfulness  and  an  overflowing  heart  of  praise.  I 
would  stand  still  and  shout  and  bless  God.  It  is  God  in  us  that 
believes  in  God.  Without  the  light  of  God  we  should  be  in 
total  darkness,  and  He  is  the  only  source  of  light.  The  more 
of  God  we  have  in   us,  the  more  we  see  beyond  us. 

"  Thy  inspiration,  O  God  !  is  love  and  wisdom.  In  Thee 
they  are  one,   as  light  and  warmth  are  in   the  fire. 

"  Thou  art  the  true,  eternal  food  of  life,  and  he  that  has 
tasted  Thee  can  never  be  at  rest  until  he  is  wholly  filled  with 
Thee.     Lord,  when    we    are    without  Thee    we  are  lost,    dead,  in 


io8  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 

darkness.  It  is  in  and  by  Thy  presence  that  we  live  and  move 
and  have  our  being. 

"  Ever  more,  O  Lord,  increase  Thy  Spirit  in  us  until  between 
us  there    is    no    more  we  or  Thee,  but  Thou,   O  Father,  art  all ! 

"  Like  the  fixed  light  in  a  crystal  which  flashes  back  the  light 
of  the  sun,   so  does  the  soul   of  man  reflect  God. 

"A  good  life  consists  in  passive  as  well   as  active  virtues. 

"  O  Lord,  so  fill  me  that  nothing  shall  be  left  but  Thee,  and 
I  may  be  no  more." 

One  would  be  tempted  to  believe  that  none  but  a  master  in 
the  spiritual  life  could  have  written  the  sentences  which  imme- 
diately follow  this  outburst  of  love  and  praise.  Yet  remember 
that  Isaac  Hecker  was  not  yet  twenty-four,  and  that  he  knew 
nothing  of  the  ways  of  the  Spirit  except  what  the  Spirit  Him- 
self had  directly  taught  him  : 

"  The  reason  why  men  are  perplexed  and  in  darkness  about 
their  being  and  the  questions  which  their  being  often  asks,  is  not 
that  these  are  insoluble,  but  that  the  disposition  and  spirit  in 
which  a  solution  is  attempted  is  so  contrary  to  that  in  which  they 
may   be  solved,    that  they  appear  as  hidden  mysteries. 

"When  we  come  together  to  converse,  it  should  be  to  learn 
from  each  other  what  good  we  can  and  ought  to  do,  and  so 
mingle  the  brightness  of  one  with  the  dimness  of  the  other. 
Our  meetings  should  be  such  that  we  should  go  away  feeling 
that  God  had  been  with  us  and  multiplied  our  blessings.  The 
question  should  be,  '  Brother,  can  you  teach  me  the  way  of  the 
Lord  in  a  more  perfect  manner  than  that  in  which  I  tread  it, 
so  that  my  soul  may  be  increased  and  God  abide  in  me  more 
and  more  ?  '  Oh  !  he  is  my  brother,  my  master,  who  leads  -me 
to  do  more  and  more  good  and  to  love  and  live  more  of  God. 
He  that  does  not  increase  my  heart  in  love  or  my  mind  in  true 
godly  wisdom,  is   unprofitable  and  negatively  injurious  to   me. 

"Wilfulness  locks  up  while  willingness"  (docility)  "unlocks 
the  portal  to  the  divine  mysteries  of  God.  I  would  not  at- 
tempt to  solve  a  mystery  by   intellect,    but  by  being." 

"  October  17. — It  is  some  time  since  I  have  written  in  this 
book.  All  my  spare  time  has  been  occupied  in  writing  letters  to 
my  friends,  meditating,  feeling,  arranging  matters  with  my  brothers 
regarding    our   relations  with    each    other,  and    attending    to    the 


At  Home  Again.  109 


business.  I  have  had  little  time  to  read  and  to  visit  my  friends. 
Since  I  have  written  my  feelings  have  become  more  definite,  my 
thoughts  clearer  and  more  distinct,  and  my  whole  mind  more 
systematic. 

"  The  settlement  which  has  been  made  with  my  brothers  gives 
me  the  opportunity  of  doing  what  my  spirit  has  long  demanded 
of  me.  This  afternoon  I  have  been  working  on  their  bedroom, 
making  it  larger  and  more  pleasant  for  their  minds.  This  is  the 
first  movement  I  have  made  toward  ameliorating  their  condition. 
I  hope  that  God   will   give  me  strength  to  continue." 

m 

"  October  18. — I  feel  this  afternoon  a  deep  want  in  my  soul 
unsatisfied  by  my  circumstances  here,  the  same  as  I  experienced 
last  winter  when  I  was  led  from  this  place.  It  is  at  the  very 
depth  of  my  being.  Ah,  it  is  deeply  stirred  !  Oh,  could  I  utter 
the  aching  void  I  feel  within  !  Could  I  know  what  would  fill  it  ! 
Alas  !  nothing  that  can  be  said,  no,  nothing,  can  touch  the  aching 
spot.  In  silence  I  must  remain  and  let  it  ache.  I  would  cover 
myself  with  darkness  and  hide  my  face  from  the  light.  Oh, 
could  I  but  call  upon  the  Lord  !  Could  I  but  say,  Father ! 
Could  I  feel  any  relationship  !  " 

"  November  3. — All  things  considered,  could  I,  under  any  cir- 
cumstances, have  more  opportunities  for  self-culture  and  for 
doing  good  than  I  have  in  my  present  position  ? 

"  For  one  thing,  there  is  too  much  demand  on  me  for  phy- 
sical action.  My  heart  and  head  have  not  their  share  of  time. 
But  when  I  consider,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  know  how  we  can  possibly 
diminish  our  business  in  any  way  without  a  still  greater  demand 
on   us  for   physical   labor  in   consequence   of  diminishing  it. 

"  Yesterday  afternoon  I  went  alone  in  my  bedroom  and  I 
was  led  to  pray,  and  to  think  what  more  I  can  do  for  the 
friends  around  me  than  I  now  do.  This  morning  I  arose  and 
prayed,  and  felt  determined  not  to  let  any  outward  event  disturb 
my  inward  life ;  that  nothing  should  ruffle  my  inward  peace, 
and  that  this  day  should  be  one  of  interior  life,  let  come  what 
would. 

"  Often  I  think  of  my  past  life  and  my  present  with  such  a 
strength  of  emotion  that  I  would  cry  aloud,  '  O  Heaven  help 
me  from  my  course  !  This  is  not  the  life  I  would  lead,  but  how 
shall   I  change  it  ?     O   Lord  !    wilt  Thou   guide   me  and  lead  me, 


no  The  Life  of  Father  Heeker. 

no  matter  what  pain  or  distress  I  may  have  to  pass  through,  to 
the  true  path  Thou  wouldst  have  me  go  in  ?  Oh  !  I  thank 
Thee  for  all  Thou  hast  in  any  way  inflicted  on  me  ;  it  has  been 
to  me  the  greatest  blessing  I  could  have  received.  And,  O 
Lord  !  chasten  me  more,  for  I  need  it.  How  shall  I  live  so  that 
I  may  be  the  best  I  can  be  under  any  conditions  ?  If  those 
in  which  I  now  am  are  not  the  best,  where  shall  I  go  or  how- 
shall  I  change  them  ?  Teach  me,  O  Lord  !  and  hear  my  humble 
prayer.'" 

The  following  account  of  his  curious  inner  experiences  tells 
of  the  positive  interference  of  God  and  His  angels,  supplement- 
ing the  calmer  moods  in  which  Isaac  longed  for  and  struggled 
towards  the  settled  condition  only  to  be  attained  after  his  entering 
the  Church. 

"  November  5. — How  is  it  and  why  is  it  that  I  feel  around 
me  the  constant  presence  of  invisible  beings  who  affect  my  sensi- 
bility, and  with  whom  I  converse,  as  it  were,  in  thought  and 
feeling,  but  not  in  expression  ?  At  times  they  so  move  me  that 
I  would  escape  them,  if  I  could,  by  running  away  from  where  I 
am.  I  can  scarcely  keep  still ;  I  feel  like  beating,  raving,  and 
grasping  what  I  know  not.  Ah  !  it  is  an  unearthly  feeling,  and 
painfully  afflicts  my  heart.  How  to  get  rid  of  it  I  do  not  know. 
If  I  remain  quietly  where  I  am,  by  collecting  its  scattered  rays 
it  burns  more  deeply  into  my  soul,  bringing  forth  deep  sighs, 
groans,  and  at  times  demanding  all  my  energy  to  repress  an  un- 
natural howl. 

"  How  shall  I  escape  this  ?  By  remaining  here  and  trying 
to  bear  it,  or  by  travelling  ?  ■  To  do  the  latter  has  often  oc- 
curred to  me  of  late.  By  such  a  cause  I  was  driven  from 
home  last  winter.  What  the  result  will  be  this  time  I  cannot 
tell ;  but  if  I  did  know,  I  would  not  wait,  as  I  did  then,  until  it 
came  on  me  with  such  power  as  to  be  torturing  in  the  extreme. 
Ah,  what  nervous  strength  and  energy  I  feel  at  such  times ! 
If  I  speak  of  it  to  my  brothers,  they  cannot  understand  me,  never 
having  had  the  same  experience.  My  timidity,  which  does  not 
wish  to  be  thought  of  as  desiring  anything  extra  on  account  of 
my  life,  makes  me  bear  it  until  it  is  unendurable.  Hence  I  am 
silent  so  long  as  it  does  not  speak  for  itself,  which  extremity 
might  be  prevented  were  circumstances  other  than  they  are. 
Since   they  are  not,  let  it  be  borne  with,  say  strength  and  resig- 


At  Home  Again.  i  1  i 


nation  united   with    hope.     'Tis   this  that  is  fabled   in  Prometheus 
and  Laocoon — and   how  well  fabled,  too." 

It  is  significant  that  after  every  extraordinary  disturbance, 
such  as  the  above,  he  experienced  the  impulse  to  study  the 
credentials  of  claimants  in  the  outer  religious  world,  the  envoys 
of  the  Deity  to  man  ;  and  this  especially  concerning  the  Cath- 
olic   Church.     He   goes    on  at  once    to  say  : 

"  Of  late  I  have  felt  more  disposed  to  look  into  church 
matters  than  for  six  months  past.  Last  evening  I  made  a  visit 
to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Haight  "  (an  Episcopal  clergyman)  "  and  con- 
versed with  him  about  that  subject  for  an  hour  and  a  half. 
We  differed  very  little  in  our  opinions.  If  the  Church  of  Rome 
has  fallen  into  corruptions  from  her  over-warmth,  the  Anglican 
has  neglected  some  of  her  duties  through  her  coldness.  And 
if  the  Anglican  receives  the  first  five  or  six  councils  as  legiti- 
mate and  rejects  the  Council  of  Trent  as  not  a  full  one,  still, 
as  an  individual,  I  think  Rome  did  not  establish  or  enjoin  any- 
thing in  those  decrees"  (the  Tridentine)  "which  was  not  in 
harmony  with  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  the  Scriptures,  and  tradition. 
But  the  Anglican  thinks  she  has,  and  hence,  in  his  judgment, 
they  are  unwarrantable  and   unnecessary." 

"November  15. — How  does  Jesus  commune  with  Humanity 
through  the  Church  ?  Does  He  now  commune  with  the  Church  ? 
Was  the  life  given  by  Him  to  His  immediate  disciples  all  that 
has  been  given  and  transmitted  to  us,  or  does  He  now  commune 
with  the  visible  Church  ?  And  how  ?  He  promised  to  be  with 
His  disciples  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world,  to  send  the  Com- 
forter who  should  lead  them  into  all  truth,  and  to  intercede  for 
us  with  the  Father.  The  Church  holds  that  its  sacraments  and 
forms  are  the  visible  means  for  communing  with  the  invisible — 
that  grace  is  imparted  through  them  to  the  worthy  receiver. 
Is  it  true  that  such  grace  is  imparted  ?  If  it  is,  it  will  be 
shown  by  its  fruits.  Contrast  the  Catholic  who  believes  most  in 
the  sacraments  with  the  Quaker  who  does  not  believe  in  them 
at  all  as  religious  or  moral  forces.  Certainly,  if  the  sacraments 
have  any  beneficial  effect,  it  should  be  shown  in  the  contrast 
between  those  who  totally  deny  their  efficacy  and  those  who 
religiously  believe  in  them.  Now,  does  this  show  what  one 
would  naturally  expect  to  flow  from  faith  in  the  sacraments  ? 


1 1 2  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

"November  20. — I  feel  in  better  health  than  I  have  ever  had, 
both  mind  and  body,  having  at  the  same  time  an  increased 
sensitiveness,  so  that  the  touch  of  any  one  I  cannot  bear.  Also, 
I  am  conscious  of  a  more  constant  spiritual  communion.  I  feel 
more  vividly  and  distinctly  the  influence  and  presence — spiritual 
presence — of  others. 

"  I  lie  down  in  my  bed  at  night  with  the  same  feelings  with 
which  I  rise  in  the  morning.  I  anticipate  as  much  from  one  as 
from  the  other.  The  events,  emotions,  and  thoughts  which  come 
in  my  sleep  are  as  much  a  part  of  my  real  life  as  those  of  the 
day.  Waking  and  sleeping  are  two  forms  of  existence.  To  me 
the  latter  state  is  full  of  interest  and  expectation.  The  two 
states  mutually  act  upon  each  other. 

"Hope,  Faith,  Wish,  are  the  presentiments  of  sight,  the 
evidences  of  becoming  sight  to  the  senses.  They  are  the  fore- 
runners of  vision.     It  is  by  them  we  know. 

"  To  believe  is  to  see,  not  with  the  senses  but  with  the 
higher  faculties  of  the  soul,  reason,  imagination,  hope. 

"  I  believe  that  every  faculty  may  be  elevated  to  the  state  of 
prophecy. 

"  Reasoning  is  faith  struggling  with  doubt." 


CHAPTER    XT. 

STUDYING   AND    WAITING. 

THAT  "  movable  feast,"  Thanksgiving  Day,  gave  Isaac  occasion 
for  making  this  examination  of  conscience  at  five  o'clock  in 
the  morning  : 

"  When  I  cast  my  eyes  back,  it  seems  to  me  that  I  have 
made  some  progress — that  I  have  grown  somewhat  better  than 
I  was.  Thoughts,  feelings,  and  passions  which  were  active  in  my 
bosom,  and  which,  in  truth,  were  not  to  be  well-spoken  of,  have 
given  place,   I   hope,   to  a  better  state  of   mind. 

"  How  am  I  now  actualizing  my  spiritual  life  ?  It  would  be 
hard  for  me  to  answer  at  this  moment.  Am  I  less  wilful  ?  Do 
I  sacrifice  more  than  I  did  ?  Am  I  more  loving  ?  I  am  afraid 
that  I  am  doing  nothing  more  than  I  did  ;  and  therefore  I  took 
up  this  book  to  give  an  account  of  myself. 

"  Study  occupies  the  best  part  of  my  time  most  generally.  I 
recite  lessons  in  Latin  and  in  German  every  day,  and  now  intend 
to  study  English  grammar  again.  Then  I  read  considerable,  and 
write  letters  to  my  friends.  All  this,  added  to  the  hours  I  have 
to  spend  in  business,  leaves  me  not  sufficient  time  to  meditate ; 
and  there  is  no  opportunity  here  for  me  to  go  into  a  retired, 
silent  place,  where  I  can  be  perfectly  still,  which  is  what  has 
the  most  internal  effect  on  me,  and  the  best  and  most  lasting. 
Two  things  I  should  and  must  do  for  my  own  soul's  sake  :  speak 
less,  and  think  less  of  my  friends.  To  do  this  will  give  me  a 
retired  place  and  an  opportunity  for  silence  in  the  midst  of  all 
that  is  around  me. 

"  I  feel  that  I  am  not  doing  anything  to  ameliorate  the  social 
condition  of  those  around  me  who  are  under  my  influence  and 
partial  control.  Just  now  there  seems  a  stand-still  in  this  direction. 
The  Spirit  promises  to  teach  us  in  all  things  :  what  more  would 
it  have  me  do  in  this  way  ?  What  should  be  my  next  step  ?  My 
mind  has  been  partially  drawn  away  from  this  by  the  present  poor 
state  of  business,  which  keeps  us  cramped  in  our  funds. 

"I  fear  that  to  take  less  food  than  I  now  do  would  injure  my 
health — else   I  should  fast  often. 

"  To-day  let  me  put  in  practice  the  two  above-mentioned 
duties  :  silence,  and  less  thought  upon  my  friends. 

"3 


114  The  Life  of  FatJicr  Hccker. 

"  And  now,  O  God  !  if  Thou  helpest  not  I  shall  be  worse 
than  before.  Heavenly  Father,  as  the  flower  depends  on  the  light 
and  warmth  of  the  sun  for  its  grace  and  beauty,  so,  and  much 
more,  do  I  depend  on  Thee  for  life  and  progress.  O  Lord !  from 
the  depths  of  my  heart  I  would  implore  Thee  to  aid  me  in  all 
good  intentions.  My  heart  overflows  with  its  fulness  of  gratitude 
for  what  Thou  hast  done  for  me,  and  I  know  Thou  wilt  not 
shorten  Thy  hand.  Thy  beauty,  Thy  loveliness,  O  God !  is 
beyond  our  finite  vision,  far  above  our  expression.  Lord,  all  I 
can  utter  is,   Help  my  weakness." 

"  December  2,  1843. — My  heart,  these  two  days  back,  has  been 
filled  with  love.  Oh,  had  I  some  one  to  whom  I  could  unbosom 
myself!  There  is  a  something  that  affects  my  heart  which  is  invis- 
ible, and  to  me  strange." 

Here  he  seems  to  intend  the  literal,  physical  heart,  making  it 
the  scene,  at  the  same  time,  of  a  spiritual  emotion.  On  the  same 
day  he  writes  : 

"  I  will  not  feed  my  body  with  impure  food — is  it  not  of  infi- 
nitely more  importance  that  I  should  not  feed  my  spirit  with  deeds 
of  impurity  ?  By  this  I  mean  my  gaining  a  living  by  making 
and  selling  articles  which,  in  my  judgment,  are  injurious,  being 
luxurious  and  altogether  unnecessary.  Should  I  cease  from  doing 
that  which  is  contrary  to  my  spirit,  what  else  should  I  do  ?  O 
Lord,  enlighten  Thou  my  path  !  " 

With  what  zeal  he  still  persisted  in  the  practice  of  bodily 
mortification  this  entry  bears  witness  : 

"  December  6. — Day  before  yesterday  I  fasted  and  took  a  cold 
shower-bath.  My  diet  is  apples,  potatoes,  nuts,  and  unleavened 
bread.     No  water — scarcely  a  mouthful  a  week." 

Then  follow  some  thoughts  on  the  solidarity  of  humanity, 
which  retards  individual  progress  by  weighting  each  with  the  bur- 
dens of  all  others.  He  finds  in  this  an  explanation  of  the  truth 
that  our  Lord  took  all  the  sins  of  men  upon  Himself  and  suffered 
for  them  on  the  cross.  The  blind  ingratitude  with  which  this 
sacrifice  has  been  repaid  cuts  him  with  anguish,  from  which  he 
rises  into  this  cry  of  love  and  adoration  : 


Studying  and   Waiting.  115 

"  O  Lord  !  my  heart  is  choked  from  the  utterance  of  its  depth 
of  thankfulness.  O  dear  Christ !  O  sweet  Christ !  O  loving  Christ! 
oh,  more  than  brother,  friend  !  oh,  more  than  any  other  being  can 
be  !  O  Son  of  God  !  oh,  Thou  who  showest  forth  the  pure  love  of 
God  !  oh,  Thou  inexpressible  Love  !  draw  me  nearer  Thee,  let  me 
feel  more  of  Thy  purity,  Thy  love!  Oh,  baptize  me  with  Thy 
Spirit  and  loosen  my  tongue  that  I  may  speak  of  Thy  love  to 
men  !  Oh,  it  cannot  be  spoken  of,  nor  can  our  hearts  feel  its  great- 
ness. God!  what  is  Thy  mercy  that  Thou  sufferest  us  to  live? 
Our  ingratitude  is  too  great  to  be  uttered.  Lord,  I  am  silent, 
for  who  can  speak  in  Thy  presence  ?  O  Father !  O  Love  !  O 
Loving-kindness  !      My  heart  could  fly  away  !" 

On  his  birthday,  December  18,  1843,  having  finished  his  twenty- 
third  year,  he  puts  down  an  account  of  conscience  in  the  form  of 
prayers  and  aspirations  to  God,  breathing  a  deep  sense  of  humility, 
expressing  regret  for  his  inactivity,  his  lack  of  gratitude  for  favors 
both  spiritual  and  temporal,  and  adding  a  fervent  appeal  for  more 
light  and  greater  courage.  In  almost  every  entry  of  any  length  in 
the  diary  during  this  period  he  complains  of  his  lack  of  solitude  and 
of  the  means  of  obtaining  it.  His  mind,  after  arriving  home,  was 
tossed  with  many  interior  distresses  which  he  could  not  com- 
municate to  his  brothers,  nor  even  to  his  mother,  with  any  hope 
of  assuagement,  but  which  silence  and  solitude  enabled  him  to 
soothe  by  prayer.  On  the  last  day  of  the  year  he  reverts  to  the 
great  changes  which  1843  had  witnessed  in  his  soul,  and  which, 
he  says,  were  accompanied  by  bitter  anguish.  Twelve  months 
before  he  had  been  with  his  "  dear  friend,  O.  A.  Brownson,  filled 
with  an  unknown  spirit,  driven  from  home  by  it,  and  like  one 
intoxicated,  not  knowing  who  I  was  or  wherefore  I  was  so 
troubled  " — then  to  Brook  Farm,  and  to  Fruitlands,  and  back 
again  in  New  York  for  the  previous  five  or  six  months,  the  same 
spirit  still  in  sovereign  mastery  over  him,  and,  "  though  regulated, 
none  the  less  powerful."  He  says  that  he  is  not  so  restless  nor 
his  mind  so  chaotic,  but  that  he  still  has  a  pain  at  heart  which  he 
declares  to  be  almost  unbearable,  joined  to  some  nervous  excitability. 

Meantime,  besides  trying  to  employ  himself  actively  in  the 
business  of  the  Hecker  Brothers,  he  recited  lessons  daiiy  in  both 
German  and  Latin,  and  read  much,  chiefly  on  topics  suggested 
by  the  difficulties  with  which  his  life  was  beset,  such  as  philosophy, 
religious  controversy,  and  the  graver  sorts  of  poetry,  of  which  that 


1 1 6  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 

of  Goethe  made  a  deep  impression  on  him.  The  melancholy  unrest 
and  longing  which  such  poetry  embodies  sunk  into  his  very  heart. 
Often  it  gave  perfect  expression  to  his  own  doubting  and  distressed 
state  of  soul.  He  also  found  some  relaxation  in  an  occasional  visit 
to  the  theatre  and  heard  nearly  all  the  lectures  given  in  the  city. 
One  of  the  dreams  of  his  life,  the  amelioration  of  the  social  con- 
dition of  the  working  people,  he  found  himself  unable  to  actualize 
in  any  appreciable  degree.  It  is  evident  that  his  brothers  shared 
his  philanthropic  views  ;  but  when  it  came  to  set  practically  to 
work  there  was  a  lack  of  harmony.  John  Hecker  was  for  attain- 
ing the  object  by  stricter  discipline,  treating  the  men  rather  as 
servants  ;  while  "  we,"  says  Isaac,  speaking  of  himself  and  George, 
"  took  the  side  of  treating  them  with  kindness,  and,  as  far  as 
possible,  as  brethren."  In  truth,  it  was  evidence  of  nobility  of 
character  in  these  three  brothers  that  they  could  so  much  as 
dream  of  actualizing  so  radical  a  social  reform  in  but  one  estab- 
lishment amidst  so  many  in  ardent  business  competition  with 
each  other.  It  may  be  said  in  passing  that  the  practical  charity 
of  the  Hecker  Brothers  continued  to  do  credit  to  the  spirit  which 
originally  prompted  their  attempts  at  social  reform.  During  a 
period  of  general  distress  some  years  since  they  distributed  bread 
free,  sending  their  own  wagons  around  the  city  for  the  purpose. 
No  small  part  of  Isaac's  distress  arose  from  what  the  diary 
calls  the  ugliness,  vulgarity,  and  discord  everywhere  to  be  met 
with  in  his  daily  round  of  duties.  He  had  one  refuge  from  this 
in  his  domestic  life — a  pleasant,  pure,  and  peaceful  home ;  and 
another  in  the  inner  chamber  of  his  soul,  better  fitted  every  day 
to  be  a  sanctuary  to  which  he  could  fly  for  solace.  But  his 
heart  fairly  bled  for  the  vast  mass  of  men*  and  of  women  about 
him,  only  a  few  of  whom  had  such  an  outer  refuge,  and  perhaps 
fewer  still  the  inner  one.  This  sympathy  he  felt  his  life  long. 
He  ever  blamed  the  huge  accretion  of  law  and  customs  and 
selfishness  which  is  called  society  for  much  of  this  misery  of 
men,  this  hindrance  to  a  fair  distribution  of  the  goods  of  this 
world,  this  guilty  permission  on  the  part  of  the  fortunate  few  of 
the  want  and  dirt  and  ugliness  and  coarseness  which  are  the  lot 
of  almost  the  whole  race  of  man.  Yet  he  was  not  blind  to  in- 
dividual guilt.  Right  here  in  his  diary,  after  lamenting  his  en- 
forced inability  to  succor  human  misery,  he  says  that  some  words 
dropped  by  the  workmen  in  conversation  with  him  cause  him 
to  record  his  conviction  that  suffering  and  injustice,  together  with 


Studying  and   Waiting.  wj 

the  deprivation  of  liberty,  are  due  to  one's  own  fault  as  well  as 
to  that  of  others  : 

"  Every  evil  that  society  inflicts  upon  me,  the  germ  of  it  is 
my  own  fault ;  in  proportion  as  I  free  myself  from  my  vices  will 
I  free  myself  from  the  evils  which  society  inflicts  upon  me.  Be 
true  to  thyself  and  thou  canst  not  be  false  to  any  one.  Be  true 
to  thyself,  and  it  follows  as  night  follows  day  that  others  cannot 
be  false  to  thee." 

Of  course  this  panacea  offers  only  an  inward  healing,  for  none 
more  readily  admitted  than  he  who  wrote  these  sentences  that  in 
externals  the  true  heart  is  often  the  first  victim  of  the  malice 
of  the  false  heart. 

Ever  and  again  we  find  in  the  diary  reflections  on  the  general 
aspect  of  religion.  The  Protestant  churches  seemed  to  him  to 
fail  to  meet  the  aspirations  of  the  natural  man  ;  that  is  the  burden 
of  his  complaint  against  them  all.  Some,  like  the  Unitarians,  did 
but  offer  man  his  best  self,  and  hence  added  nothing  to  human- 
ity, while  humanity  at  its  best  ceaselessly  condemned  itself  as  in- 
sufficient. This  insufficiency  of  man  for  himself,  Calvinistic  and 
Lutheran  Protestantism  in  their  turn  condemned  as  a  depravity 
worthy  of  the  deepest  hell,  making  man  a  wretch  maimed  in  his 
very  nature  so  cruelly  and  fatally  as  to  be  damned  for  what  he 
could  not  help  being  guilty  of.  Meantime  the  Catholic  Church 
was  seen  by  Isaac  Hecker  as  having  elements  the  most  attractive. 
It  recognized  in  man  his  native  dignity  ;  it  saw  in  him  a  being 
made  God-like  by  the  attribute  of  reason,  and  called  him  to  a 
state  infinitely  more  God-like  by  a  supernatural  union  with  Christ. 
It  understood  his  weakness,  pitied  it,  and  knew  how  to  cure  it. 
True,  there  are  passages  here  in  which  his  impatience  with  the 
public  attitude  of  the  Church  betrays  that  his  view  of  it  was  yet 
a  distant  one  ;  they  show,  also,  an  undue  concentration  of  his  gaze 
upon  social  evils.  "  The  Church  is  a  great  almoner,"  he  says, 
"  but  what  is  she  doing  to  ameliorate  and  improve  the  circum- 
stances of  the  poorer  and  more  numerous  classes  ?  She  is  more 
passive  than  active."  "  Instead  of  the  Church  being  in  the  head 
and  front  of  advancement,  suffering  martyrdom  for  Christ,  she  is 
in  a  conservative  relation  with  society."  Yet  he  adds:  "We 
speak  of  the  Church  as  she  is  exhibited  by  her  bishops  and  clergy, 
and  only  in  this  sense." 

Isaac  Hecker's  renewed  experiment  of  engaging  in  business 
and  following  at  the  same  time  the  lead  of  the  peremptory  Spirit 


1 1 8  The  Life  of  FatJier  Hecker. 

within  him  soon  proved  a  failure.  He  complains,  though  not  as 
bitterly  as  the  year  before  when  he  felt  the  first  agony  of  this 
suffering,  that  the  greater  part  of  his  true  life  is  lost  in  his  present 
position — the  thoughts,  feelings,  studies  which  are  of  supreme  value 
to  him,  getting  entrance  into  his  mind  almost  by  stealth,  while, 
at  the  same  time,  he  is  not  of  much  use  in  the  business  and  of  little 
benefit  to  others  in  any  way.  On  March  10  he  wrote  to  Brownson 
that  he  was  going  to  give  up  business  totally  and  finally,  and 
asked  his  advice  about  a  course  of  study  "  for  the  field  of  the 
Church,"  not  having  yet  fully  settled  as  to  whether  it  should  be 
"the  Roman  or  the  Anglican."  Upon  his  determination  to  with- 
draw from  the  secular  affairs  of  life  he  experienced  "  such  peace, 
calmness,  and  deep,  settled  strength  and  confidence"  as  never  be- 
fore. "  I  feel  the  presence  of  God,  "  he  writes,  "  wherever  I  am. 
I  would  kneel  and  praise  God  in  all  places.  In  His  presence  I 
walk  and  feel  His  breath  encompass  me.  My  soul  is  borne  up  by 
His  presence  and  my  heart  is  filled  by  His  influence.  How  thank- 
ful ought  we  to  be  !  How  humble  and  submissive!  Let  us  lay  our 
heads  on  the  pillow  of  peace  and  die  peacefully  in  the  embrace 
of  God." 

Brownson  answered  his  letter  with  one  of  encouragement  to 
carry  out  his  purpose.  Yet,  there  was  a  pang ;  Isaac  laments 
"  the  domestic  comforts,  the  little  offices  of  tender  love  "  which 
he  should  lose  by  going  from  home.  And  well  he  might,  for 
tender  love  may  well  describe  the  bond  uniting  the  dear  old 
mother  and  her  three  noble  sons.  The  present  writer  had  no 
personal  acquaintance  with  John  Hecker,  but  we  never  heard  his 
name  mentioned  by  Father  Hecker  except  with  much  affection. 
George  always  seemed  to  us  something  like  a  perfect  man.  He 
especially  it  was  who  all  his  life  gave  his  entire  unselfish  love  to 
his  brother  Isaac.  The  reader  has  noticed,  we  hope,  that  there 
has  been  no  mention  so  far  in  the  diary  of  difficulty  in  obtaining 
money  for  the  expenses  of  his  various  journeyings  and  for  his 
support  when  absent  from  home.  The  two  brothers  in  New 
York  appear  to  have  held  these  pilgrimages  in  search  of  the 
truth  in  such  reverence  as  to  make  Isaac  their  partner,  only  in  a 
higher  sense  than  ever  before.  And  George  Hecker,  especially, 
seemed  throughout  his  life  to  continue  Isaac  a  member  of  his 
great  and  rich  firm,  lavishing  upon  his  least  wish  large  sums  of 
money,  and  these  not  only  for  his  strictly  personal  expenditure, 
but  for  any  cause  whatever  he  might  have  at  heart. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE   MYSTIC   AND   THE    PHILOSOPHER. 

BEFORE  summarizing  and  conveniently  arranging  Isaac  Hecker's 
reasons  for  becoming  a  Catholic  and  narrating  the  accompany- 
ing incidents,  we  give  the  following  profession  of  faith  in  the  author- 
ity of  the  Spirit  speaking  within.  It  was  written  in  the  diary  in  the 
midst  of  his  preparations  for  his  baptism,  and  is  an  early  witness 
of  a  permanent  characteristic  of  Father  Hecker's  life.  It  is,  be- 
sides, a  fitting  introduction  to  the  description  of  his  state  of  mind 
when  he  entered  the  Church,  showing  better  than  anything  we 
have  found  what  kind  of  man  became  a  Catholic  in  Isaac 
Hecker. 

"  Man  is  a  mystic  fact. 

"  What  is  most  interior  is  ever  mystical,  and  we  should  ever 
be  in  the  centre  of  the  circle  of  the  mystic  life. 

"  We  must  unfold  the  mystical  in  all  our  expressions,  actions, 
thoughts,  and  motions. 

"  It  is  the  mystic  life  only  which  can  fully  interest  man.  This 
is  deeper  than  all  conditions,  behind  all  organs,  faculties,  and 
functions. 

"  We  must  listen  to  those  who  speak  to  us  in  the  interior 
world,  and  hear  the  mystic  man  speak  through  us. 

"  The  mystic  man  is  ever  youthful,  fresh,  and  new. 

"  The  mystic  sphere  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven  within. 

"  I  can  neither  study  nor  sit  down  and  read  for  any  length 
of  time.  The  inner  man  will  not  permit  me.  Ever  he  calls  me 
from  it  to  meditate  and  enjoy  his    presence. 

"  He  says :  I  am  all.  Ask  of  me  and  I  will  give  you  more 
than  has  been  written — more  than  you  can  ever  find  or  dig  out 
by  study. 

"  Be  my  spokesman — this  is  your  office.  Submit  to  me — this 
is  your  glory.  I  have  taken  up  my  abode  in  you  on  condition 
that  you  will  be  faithful   and  submissive. 

"  You  have  no  business  to  ask  of  me  what  I  am  going  to  set 
you  about.  I  am,  and  you  know  it — and  this  is  enough  for  you 
to  know. 

"  This  is  my  condition  of  remaining  with  you — that  you  enter- 
tain me,  and  me  alone,  and  no  other  on  any  pretext  whatsoever. 

119 


120  The  Life  of  FatJier  Hccker. 

I  am  all,  and  this  suffices.  You  have  nothing  to  say,  to  do,  or 
to  be  troubled  about.  Do  only  as  I  bid  you,  follow  what  I 
tell  you,  and  be  still. 

"  If  you  neglect  me  in  any  way,  or  forget  me  for  any  other 
object,  now  that  you  have  enjoyed  my  confidence,  love,  and  bless- 
ing, I  will  not  abide  with  you  any  longer. 

"  I  want  all  your  time  and  to  speak  all  that  is  to  be  said. 
You  have  no  right  to  speak  a  word — not  a  word — of  your  own. 
You  are  not  your  own.  You  have  given  yourself  up  to  me,  and 
I  am  all.  I  will  not  leave  you  unless  you  leave  me  first,  and 
even  then  I  shall  ever  be  the  nearest  to  you,  but  you  will  not 
know  it. 

"  I  am  your  Friend ;  the  One  who  loves  you.  I  have  dis- 
covered myself  to  you  and  will  do  so  yet  more.  But  the  condi- 
tion of  so  doing  requires  from  you  even  more  faith,  tenderness, 
and  submissiveness. 

"  Nothing  is  so  real,  so  near,  so  full  of  enjoyment  as  I  am  to 
you,  and  you  cannot  leave  me  without  giving  up  the  greater  for 
the  less. 

"  I  talk  to  you  at  all  times  and  am  near  you  at  all  seasons, 
and  my  joy  is  to  be  in  your  presence,  to  love  you  and  to  take 
delight  in  this  love  I  bestow  upon  you.  I  direct  your  pen,  speech, 
thought,  and  affections,  though  you  know  it  not  sensibly.  But 
you  shall  know  more  clearly  who  I  am,  and  all  respecting  me, 
if  you  but  comply  with  my  requirements.  You  need  not  fear : 
you  cannot  make  any  mistakes  if  you  submit  to  be  guided  by 
me." 

Isaac  Hecker  had  now  tried  every  form  of  philosophy.  Who- 
ever sailed  with  Brownson  on  that  voyage  which  ended  on  the 
shores  of  Catholic  truth,  had  explored  the  deep  seas  and  sounded 
the  shoal  waters  of  all  human  reason ;  and  young  Hecker  had  been 
Brownson's  friend  and  sympathizer  since  the  years  of  his  own 
earliest  mental  activity.  Pantheism,  subjectivism,  idealism,  and  all 
the  other  systems  were  tried,  and  when  at  last  he  was  convinced 
that  Life  is  Real  it  was  only  after  such  an  agony  as  must  attend 
the  imminent  danger  of  fatal  shipwreck. 

He  had,  meantime,  given  a  fair  trial  to  philanthropy.  Theoreti- 
cally and  practically,  Isaac  Hecker  loved  humanity ;  to  make  men 
happy  was  his  ever-renewed  endeavor;  was,  in  truth,  the  con- 
dition on  which  his  own  happiness  depended.     For  years  this  view 


The  Mystic  and  the  Philosopher.  121 


of  his  life-task  alternated  with  his  search  for  exact  answers  to  the 
questions  his  soul  asked  about  man's  destiny  hereafter;  or,  one 
might  rather  say,  social  questions  and  philosophical  ones  borrowed 
strength  from  each  other  to  assail  him  till  his  heart  throbbed  and 
his    brain    whirled  with    the  agony  of  the  conflict. 

In    a    series  of    articles  in   The  Catholic    World    published    in 
1887,  and  before  referred  to,   Father  Hecker  called  Dr.  Brownson's 
road  to  the  Church  the  philosophical   road.      Finding  that  doctrines 
which   his  philosophical    mind    perceived    to    answer    the    deepest 
questions  of  the  soul  were  taught  only  in  one    society,  and  there 
taught  with  authority,  he    argued  validly   that    that  society  could 
lay  claim  to  the  right  to  teach.     From  the  doctrine  to  the   teacher, 
from  the  truth  to  the  external  authority  that  teaches  it,  is  an  infer- 
ence of  sound  reason.     This  applies  to  Father  Hecker's  case  also, 
for  he  was  of  a   bent    of  mind   truly    philosophical,    and    he    has 
placed  on  record  the  similarity  of  his  philosophical  difficulties  with 
those  of  Brownson.     But    in    addition    to    philosophical   questions, 
and  far  more  pressing,  were  to  Isaac  Hecker  the  problems  arising 
from  the  mystical  occurrences  of  which   his  soul  was  the  theatre. 
Were  these  real  ? — that  is,  were  they  more  than  the  vagaries  of  a 
sensitive  temperament,  the  wanderings  of  a  sentimental  imagination, 
or,  to  use  Father  Hecker's  own  words,  "  the  mere  projections  into 
activity  of  feelings  entirely  subjective  ;  mystical  impulses   towards 
no  corresponding    objective  realities,  or,  at  any  rate,  with   objects 
which  it  is  not  possible  to  bring  into  the  field  of  the  really  knowable  ? 
Some  will  admit  that  religious  feeling   is   as  much  a   verity  as  any 
other  part  of  human  consciousness,   affirming,   however,  the  subjec- 
tivity of  all  purely  spiritual  life  ;  and   no  more   can  be  said,  they 
insist,  for  the  principles,  metaphysical  and  logical,   with  which  they 
are  associated  in  the  spiritual   life   of  man.     Now,  •  such  a  theory 
never  leaves  the  soul  that  is  governed  by  reason  at  rest.     The  pro 
blcm  ever  and  again  demands  solution  :  are  these   yearnings,    aspi- 
rations,  unappeased  desires,  or   religious  feelings — the  ruling  traits 
of  the  noblest  men  and  women — are  they  genuine,  real,  correspond- 
ing to  and  arising  from  the  reality  of  certain  objects  external  to  the 
soul  ?    I  think  that   in  the  solution  of  this  problem  Dr.   Brownson 
fought  and  won  his  greatest  victory;   at  any  rate,  it  was   to  me  th 
most  interesting  period  of  his    life.      No  wonder,    since  I   had    the 
same  battle  to  fight  myself,  and  it  was  just  at  this  epoch  that  I  came 
into  closest  contact  with  him.     We  fought  this  battle   shoulder-to- 
shoulder." —  Catholic  World,    October,    1887,  pp.  5-6. 


1 


122  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

Brownson's  heavy  heart  was  due  to  philosophical  difficulties, 
and  Isaac  Hecker's  to  the  same  ;  but  in  addition  the  latter  had 
a  mystical  experience  to  which  Brownson  was  at  that  time,  cer- 
tainly, a  stranger,  and,  as  far  as  we  know,  he  remained  so  ;  and 
these  mystical  difficulties  demanded  settlement  far  more  impera- 
tively than  did  the  philosophical  ones.  Isaac  Hecker's  inner  life 
must  have  an  external  adjunct  of  divine  authority.  Such  aspira- 
tions of  the  soul  for  present  union  with  God  in  love  as  he  had, 
are  more  peremptory  in  demanding  satisfaction  than  those  of  the 
logical  faculty  in  demanding  the  ascertainment  of  the  certain 
truth.  Philosophy  outside  the  Church  is  to  the  searcher  after 
truth  what  St.  Paul  said  the  Law  was  to  the  Jews,  a  school- 
master ;  but,  to  a  soul  in  the  condition  of  Isaac  Hecker,  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  a  spouse  demanding  union.  Both  Brownson  and  him- 
self were  men  true  to  their  convictions,  courageous  and  unselfish.* 
They  were  both  firmly  determined  to  have  the  truth  and  to  have 
the  whole  of  it,  whether  spoken  ex  cathedra  in  the  divine  court 
of  the  innermost  soul,  or  ex  cathedra  by  the  supreme  authority 
of  God  in  the  organism  of  the  Christian  Church.  "  Brownson 
was  firmly  persuaded,"  says  Father  Hecker,  "  and  so  am  I,  that 
the  great  fault  of  men  generally  is  that  they  deem  the  life  of 
their  souls,  thoughts,  judgments,  and  convictions,  yearnings,  aspira- 
tions, and  longings  to  be  too  subject  to  illusion  to  be  worthy 
their  attentive  study  and  manly  fidelity  ;  that  even  multitudes  of 
Catholics  greatly  undervalue  the  divine  reality  of  their  inner  life, 
whether  in  the  natural  or  supernatural  order." 

The  philosophical  difficulty  was  far  less  serious  than  the  spir- 
itual one.  To  the  philosopher  the  fundamental  truths  of  human 
reason  are  established  as  objective  realities  by  processes  common 
to  every  sane  mind,  and  are  backed  by  the  common  consent  of 
men;  and  this  is  true  also  of  the  prime  verities  of  ethics.  But 
when  a  man  finds  himself  subject  to  secret  influences  of  the  ut- 
most power  over  him,  able  to  cast  hirn  off  or  to  hold  him,  to 
sicken  his  body  and  distress  his  soul,  extending  his  views  of  the 
truth  by  flashes  of  light  into  vistas  that  seem  infinite,  making  his 
love  of  right  an  ecstasy,  his  sympathy  for  human  misery  a  pas- 
sion, controlling  his  diet  and  his  clothing,  ordering  him  here  and 
there  at  will  and  knowing  how  to  be  obeyed — when,  in  a  word, 
a  man  finds  himself  treated  by  God  in  a  manner  totally  different 
from  any  one  else  he  knows  or  ever  heard  of,  it  is  plain  that 
he  must  agonize  for  the  possession  of  a  divine  sanction   to  which 


The  Mystic  and  the  PJiilosopJicr.  123 


he  can  appeal  in  common  with  all  men,  and  which  must  there- 
fore exist  in  the  external  order.  He  longs,  above  all  things,  to 
test  his  secret  in  the  light  of  day. 

The  problem  that  Isaac  Hecker  had  to  solve,  as  he  described 
it  himself,  was  whether  his  life  was  real — using  the  word  "  life  " 
to  denote  its  truest  meaning,  the  interior  life.  We  have  been 
careful  to  make  the  reader  aware  of  how  deep  and  continuous 
were  the  inner  touches  of  the  Holy  Spirit  which  led  him  on.  Be- 
fore applying  for  admission  to  the  Church,  there  was  no  truth 
that  he  could  believe  more  firmly  than  that  he  was  the  temple 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Of  that  he  had  the  certitude  which  is  called 
personal  and  the  teaching  of  God  which  is  most  direct.  Yet 
something  was  lacking,  and  therein  lay  his  agony,  for  he  knew 
that  his  fellow-men  were  entitled  to  all  that  he  had  of  truth  and 
virtue.  The  more  distinct  the  Voice  which  spoke  within,  the  more 
perplexing  it  became  to  hear  no  echo  from  without.  He  felt 
sure  that  what  was  true  and  holy  for  him  must  be  so  for  all, 
and  yet  he  could  not  so  much  as  make  himself  understood  if  he 
told  his  secret  to  others.  To  the  born  Catholic  there  is  no  such 
difficulty.  He  is  so  fully  accustomed  to  the  verification  of  the 
inner  action  of  God,  enlightening  his  mind  and  stinging  his  con- 
science, by  God's  external  action  in  the  Church,  that  he  often 
confounds  the  two.  He  knows  the  Voice  better  by  its  echo  than 
by  its  own  tones.  There  are  many  good  Catholics,  but  few  en- 
lightened mystics.  This  is  not  for  lack  of  guidance,  so  far  as 
doctrine  is  concerned,  for  accredited  authors  on  such  subjects  are 
numerous  and  their  teaching  is  uniform  and  explicit,  besides  being 
of  the  most  intense  interest  to  those  for  whose  instruction  it  is 
adapted.  These  masters  of  spiritual  doctrine  not  only  dwell 
upon  the  interior  life  itself,  but  also  on  the  external  order  of 
God  in  His  Church  which  brings  His  interior  teaching  into  proper 
relation  with  the  exterior.  The  interior  life  thus  made  integral 
is  alone  worthy  of  the  term  real;  is  alone  worthy  of  the  de- 
scription of  St.  Paul  when  he  calls  it  "  the  witness  of  the  Spirit." 
Now,  as  a  witness  who  cannot  be  brought  into  open  court  to  give  his 
testimony  might  as  well  be  dumb,  and  is  as  good  as  no  witness, 
so  the  inner  life,  lacking  the  true  external  order  of  God,  is 
cramped  and  helpless ;  and  cramped  and  helpless  Isaac  Hecker 
was.  Whatever  he  did,  therefore,  toward  investigating  religious 
evidences  was  done  primarily  as  a  search  for  the  external  cri- 
terion which  should  guarantee  the  validity  of   the    inspirations  of 


124  The  Life  of  FatJier  Hecker. 


God  within  him,  and  at  the  same  time  provide  a  medium  of 
union  with  his  fellow- men. 

Those  whose '  advertence  is  not  particularly  aroused  to  the 
facts  of  their  interior  life,  have  for  their  main  task  either  the 
study  of  the  Church  as  a  visible  society,  claiming  continuity  with 
one  established  by  Christ ;  or,  preceding  that,  the  question 
whether  such  a  society  was  ever  founded  by  God.  Now, 
although  such  questions  must  be  settled  by  all,  they  are  not 
the  main  task  of  men  like  Isaac  Hecker.  In  their  case  the 
problem  transcending  all  others  is  where  to  find  that  divine 
external  order  demanded  for  the  completion  of  their  inner 
experience.  Such  men  must  say :  If  there  is  no  external 
order  of  God  in  this  world,  then  my  whole  interior  life  is  fatal- 
ly awry. 

The  captain  whose  voyage  is  on  the  track  of  the  trade 
winds  nevertheless  needs  more  than  dead  reckoning  for  his 
course;  he  needs  to  take  the  sun  at  noon,  to  study  the  heavens 
at  night,  and  to  con  his  chart.  To  follow  one's  interior  drift 
only  is  to  sail  the  ocean  without  chart  or  compass.  The  sail 
that  is  wafted  by  the  impulses  of  the  divine  Spirit  in  the 
interior  life  must  have,  besides,  the  guarantee  of  divine  veracity 
in  the  external  order  to  justify  him.  This  he  needs,  in  order 
to  safeguard  him  in  the  interior  life  itself,  and  to  provide  a 
common  court  of  appeal  between  himself  and  his  fellows,  or 
otherwise  he  is  in  danger  of  fanaticism,  and  is  certain  of  the 
mistrust  of  his  fellow- men.  No  man,  unsupported  by  external 
miracles,  can  claim  to  teach  what  is  vouched  for  only  by 
his  own  testimony  ;  and  this  especially  applies  to  purely  subjective 
experiences.  Isaac  Hecker  was  a  born  teacher  of  men,  and  to  be 
shut  off  from  them  by  an  isolated  experience  was  to  be  robbed  of 
his  vocation.  A  soul  like  his,  led  to  the  truth  along  the  path  of 
social  reform,  will  hail  with  delight  a  religion  which  organizes  all 
humanity  on  a  basis  of  equality,  and  at  the  same  time  verifies 
and  explains  the  facts  of  each  one's  particular  experience.  Such 
a  religion  is  to  be  longed  for,  not  only  because  of  its  universal 
brotherhood,  but  also  because  it  can  decide  between  the  inspira- 
tions of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  the  criminal  conceits  of  passion  or 
the  dreams  of  an  imaginative    temperament. 

Many  years  afterwards  Father  Hecker  thus  stated  the  har- 
mony between  the  inner  and  outer  action  of  God  in  the  soul's 
life: 


The  Mystic  and  the  Philosopher.  125 

"  In  case  of  obscurity  or  doubt  concerning  what  is  the 
divinely  revealed  truth,  or  whether  what  prompts  the  soul  is  or 
is  not  an  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  recourse  must  be  had 
to  the  divine  teacher  or  criterion — the  authority  of  the  Church. 
For*  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  to  the  Church,  as  represented 
in  the  first  instance  by  St.  Peter  and  subsequently  by  his 
successors,  was  made  the  promise  of  her  divine  Founder  that  '  the 
gates  of  hell  should  never  prevail  against  her.'  No  such  pro- 
mise was  ever  made  by  Christ  to  each  individual  believer.  '  The 
Church  of  the  living  God  is  the  pillar  and  ground  of  truth.' 
The  test,  therefore,  of  a  truly  enlightened  and  sincere  Christian 
will  be,  in  case  of  uncertainty,  the  promptitude  of  his  obedience 
to  the  voice  of  the  Church. 

"  From  the  above  plain  truths  the  following  practical  rule  of 
conduct  may  be  drawn  :  The  Holy  Spirit  is  the  immediate  guide 
of  the  soul  in  the  way  of  salvation  and  sanctification  ;  and  the 
criterion  or  test,  that  the  soul  is  guided  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  is 
its  ready  obedience  to  the  authority  of  the  Church.  This  rule 
removes  all  danger  whatever,  and  with  it  the  soul  can  walk,  run, 
or  fly,  if  it  chooses,  in  the  greatest  safety  and  with  perfect  liberty, 
in  the  ways  of  sanctity." — The   Church  and  the  Age,   p.    35. 

In  transcribing  the  above  we  are  reminded  that  St.  Ignatius, 
who  was  the  divine  instrument  in  establishing  and  perfecting 
God's  authority  in  the  external  order,  yet  left  on  record  that  so 
clearly  had  the  Holy '  Spirit  shown  him  by  secret  teaching  the 
truths  of  religion,  that,  if  all  the  Scriptures  had  been  destroyed, 
his  private  revelations  at  Manresa  would  have  sufficed  him  in 
their  stead. 

All  that  we  have  just  been  saying  helps  to  answer  the  ques- 
tion why  Orestes  Brownson  and  Isaac  Hecker  did  not  set  up 
systems  of  their  own,  and  become  Carlyles  and  Emersons  or,  espe- 
cially in  Father  Hecker's  case,  Emanuel  Swedenborgs  or  Edward 
Irvings.  We  find  the  following  among  the  memoranda  of  conver- 
sations : 

"June  30,  1886. — Why  didn't  I  switch  off  from  Christianity 
as  Carlyle  did  ?  Because  I  hope  that  I  was  truer  to  natural  rea- 
son ;  but  chiefly  because  God  had  given  me  such  an  amount  of 
infused  lights  and  graces  that  I  was  forced  to  seek  a  guide  or  go 
off  into  extravagant  fanaticism.     They    were   ready    to    encourage 


126  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

me  in  the  latter.     George  Ripley  said  to  me,   '  Hecker,  what  have 
you  got  to  tell  ?    Tell  us  what  it  is  and  we  will  accept  it' 

The  impression  a  perfectly  "  independent  thinker  "  made  on 
him,  as  typified  in  Emerson,  is  told  in  an  entry  in  his  diary, 
dated  April  24,    1 844  : 

"  I  have  had  a  few  words  with  Emerson.  He  stands  on  the 
extreme  ground  where  he  did  several  years  ago.  He  and  his  fol- 
(s  lowers  seem  to  me  to  live  almost  a  purely  intellectual  existence. 
His  wife  I  have  understood  to  be  a  very  religious  woman.  They 
are  heathens  in  thought,  and  profess  to  be  so.  They  have  no  con- 
ception of  the  Church :  out  of  Protestantism  they  are  almost 
perfectly  ignorant.  They  are  the  narrowest  of  men,  yet  they  think 
they  are  extremely  '  many-sided ' ;  and,  forsooth,  do  not  com- 
prehend Christendom,  and  reject  it.  The  Catholic  accepts  all  the 
good  they  offer  him  and  finds  it  comparatively  little  compared  to 
that  which  he  has." 

That  he  recognized  that  the  test  of  the  character  of  his  inner 
experiences,  for  good  or  ill,  was  to  be  finally  found  in  what  they 
led  him  to,  is  shown  by  the  following  passage,  already  quoted, 
from  the  diary :  "  What  I  do  I  must  do,  for  it  is  not  I  that 
do  it ;  it  is  the  Spirit.  What  that  Spirit  may  be  is  a  ques- 
tion I  cannot  answer.  What  it  leads  me  to  do  will  be  the  only 
evidence  of  its  character.  I  feel  as  impersonal  as  a  stranger 
to  it." 

The  aid  which  fidelity  to  the  light  of  reason  and  the  cherish- 
ing and  obeying  the  inspirations  of  the  Holy  Spirit  lends  to  the 
discovery  of  the  fulness  of.  truth  is  shown  by  the  following 
extract  from  an  article  by  Father  Hecker  in  The  Catholic  World 
of  October,   1887  : 

"The  man  who  establishes  the  historical  identity  of  the  Church 
of  to-day  with  the  Apostolic  college  says  the  doctrines  now 
taught  must  be  true  ;  the  man  who  perceives  the  identity  of  the 
Church's  doctrines  with  his  own  highest  aspirations  also  proves 
them  true.  The  man  who  has  become  responsive  to  the  primitive 
action  of  his  reason  says  that  the  Church,  which  is  its  only  au- 
thoritative exponent,  must  be  a  divinely  appointed  teacher.  The 
infallible  authority  of  the  Church  in  her  past,  present,  and  future 


The  Mystic  and  the  Philosopher.  127 

teaching  is  established  by  the  necessity  of  the  truths  which  she 
teaches  for  the  welfare  of  the  human  race,  by  thus  completing 
the  outlines  of  natural  truth  drawn  by  the  divine  hand  in  human 
consciousness." 

By  this  we  see  that,  if  the  divine  inner  life  had  need  of  the 
divine  outer  life  for  its  integrity,  it  is  equally  certain  that  in  his 
case,  and  also  in  that  of  Dr.  Brownson,  the  intimate  action  of 
God  within  was  a  pointer  to  the  true  Church  of  the  Divine  Word 
incarnate  in  the  actual  world  of  humanity :  for  Dr.  Brownson 
chiefly  in  the  intellectual  order,  for  Isaac  Hecker  in  both  the 
intellectual  and  mystical.  We  have  no  fear  of  wearying  the  read- 
er with  the  length  of  an  extract  of  such    value    as  the  following  : 

"  The  one  who  reaches  Catholicity  by  the  philosophical  road, 
as  Brownson  did,  by  no  means  pretends  that  the  problem  of 
human  destiny  can  be  solved  by  mere  force  of  reason  :  Catholic- 
ity is  not  rationalism.  Nor  does  he  pretend  that  the  product 
of  reason's  action,  the  knowledge  of  human  immortality  and  lib- 
erty and  of  the  being  of  God,  place  man  apart  from  or  above  the 
universal  action  of  God  upon  all  souls  by  means  of  a  visible  so- 
ciety and  external  ordinances :  Catholicity  is  well  named ;  it  is 
universal.  But  he  knows  that  when  a  man  is  persuaded  of  a 
truth  philosophically  he  is  not  called  upon  by  his  intelligence  or 
his  conscience  to  base  it  upon  historical  evidence  ;  it  is  enough 
that  he  has  one  source  of  certitude  in  its  favor.  It  may  be  a 
truth  first  known  by  revelation,  but  if  the  human  intelligence  is 
capable  of  receiving  it  in  revelation  it  must  have  some  element 
of  kinship  to  the  truths  of  pure  reason.  As  in  the  order  of  na- 
ture men  are  like  unto  God,  so  is  there  a  likeness  between  the 
truth  of  God  naturally  known  and  that  known  only  by  revela- 
tion. 

"  As  there  is  an  appetite  in  the  human  heart  which  not  all 
the  treasures,  honors,  joys  of  nature  can  satisfy,  so  there  is  a  void 
in  the  mind  which  all  the  truth  within  reach  of  the  unaided  nat- 
ural faculties  leaves  unfilled.  When  a  man  without  guile  is 
brought  face  to  face  with  truth  he  spontaneously  desires  union 
with  it.  Appetite  proves  the  existence  of  food,  and  the  food  af- 
firms itself  by  satisfying  the  appetite. 

"Where  there  is  question  of  a  principle  there  is  a  class  of 
minds  which    must  study  the  part  a    principle  has    played   in  his- 


128  The  Life  of  Father  Heckcr. 


tory,  and  is  mainly  influenced  for  or  against  it  from  its  effect  on 
former  generations  of  men.  This  class  follows  the  historical  road. 
Another  class  is  so  profoundly  moved  by  the  truths  of  revelation 
as  soon  as  known,  assimilates  them  so  readily  and  perfectly,  be- 
comes so  absorbed  and  lost  in  them,  that  the  history  of  revela- 
tion is  not  of  primary  importance  ;  it  is  only  necessary  in  order 
to  establish  necessary  facts,  such  as  the  divine  institution  of  an 
external  society,  and  of  other  external  aids.  But  with  this  philo- 
sophical class  of  minds  the  truth  stands  sponsor  for  itself  and  is 
its  own  best  witness.  The  impression  produced  by  revelation 
here  and  now  upon  the  soul  without  guile  is  one  of  the  best 
probable  proofs  to  that  soul  of  the  historical  claims  of  the  society 
to  which  God  entrusted  it.  '  The  Church  Accredits  Itself  was  the 
title  of  one  of  the  most  powerful  articles  Dr.  Brownson  ever 
wrote  for  this  magazine. 

"  Both  the  historical  and  the  philosophical  processes  are 
necessary,  but  each  is  more  so  to  one  class  of  minds  than  to  an- 
other. To  the  philosophical  mind,  once  scepticism  is  gone  and 
life  is  real,  the  supreme  fact  of  life  is  the  need  of  more  truth 
than  unaided  reason  can  know.  The  more  this  need  is  felt,  and 
the  more  clearly  the  deficiencies  of  natural  reason  are  known,  the 
better  capable  one  is  to  appreciate  the  truths  of  revelation 
which  can  alone  supply  these  deficiencies.  In  such  a  state  of 
mind  you  are  in  a  condition  to  establish  revealed  truth  in  a 
certain  sense  a  priori,  and  the  method  a  posteriori  is  then  out- 
ranked. The  philosopher  outranks  the  historian.  In  minds  of  a 
speculative  turn  the  historian  is  never  considered  of  primary 
importance.  The  principles  which  its  facts  illustrate  are  furnished 
him  by  human  reason  in  philosophy,  and  by  the  divine  reason 
in  revelation.  The  historical  mind  has  never  been  considered  in 
the  world  of  thought  as  sovereign.  The  philosopher  is  broad 
enough  to  study  all  ways  leading  to  the  full  truth  and  joy  of 
life,  whether  logical  or  traditional ;  but  he  knows  that  the  study 
of  principles  is  higher  than  that  of  facts.  .  .  .  No  man 
can  intelligently  become  a  Catholic  without  examining  and  decid- 
ing the  historical  question.  But  back  of  this  is  the  consideration 
that  the  truths  the  Church  teaches  are  necessarily  in  harmony 
with  my  reason — nay,  that  they  alone  solve  the  problems  of 
reason  satisfactorily  and  answer  fully  to  the  wants  of  the  heart. 
To  some  minds  the  truths  standing  alone  compel  assent  ;  that  is 
to  say,  the  truths    standing  alone,    and    considered  in  themselves, 


The  Mystic  and  the  Philosopher. 


129 


demand  the  submission  of  my  reason.  Among  these  truths, 
thus  imperative,  not  the  least  is  the  need  of  the  very  Church 
herself,  viewed  in  her  action  on  men  and  nations — viewed  quite 
apart  from  the  historical  and  Scriptural  proof  of  her  establishment 
by  Christ.  Once  the  mind  is  lifted  above  subjectivism  and  is 
face-to-face  with  the  truth,  union  with  the  Church  is  only  a 
question  of  time  and  of  fidelity  to  conscience." — CatJiolic 
World,  November,  1887,   "Dr.  Brownson  and  Catholicity." 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

HIS     SEARCH    AMONG    THE    SECTS. 

HAD  Protestantism  possessed  anything  capable  of  attracting 
Isaac  Hecker  he  would  certainly  have  found  it,  for  he  made 
due  and  diligent  search.  He  was,  in  a  manner,  bound  to  do  so, 
for  the  atmosphere  in  which  he  had  been  born  and  nurtured  had 
not  yet  cleared  so  fully  that  he  could  say  to  himself  with  posi- 
tive assurance  that  there  was  no  safe  midway  between  no-belief 
and  Catholicity. 

All  the  natural  influences  of  his  surroundings  were  such  as  to 
draw  him  to  one  or  other  of  the  Protestant  denominations.  The 
power  of  example  and  precept  in  his  mother  tended  that  way. 
The  power  of  public  opinion,  in  so  far  as  it  had  any  religious 
bearing,  was  Protestant.  The  most  intelligent  and  high-minded 
people  he  had  enjoyed  intimate  acquaintance  with  were  Protes- 
tant by  birth  and  training.  True,  most  of  these  had  fallen  away 
from  both  the  fellowship  and  the  doctrines  of  orthodoxy ;  but 
while  they  had  not  the  heart  to  point  him  to  what  had  been 
their  Egypt,  still  they  had  no  Promised  Land  to  lead  him  into, 
and  were  confessedly  in  the  Desert.  Yet  their  influence  was  in- 
directly favorable  to  Protestantism  as  opposed  to  Catholicity,  al- 
though no  one  but  the  ministers  whom  he  consulted  thought  of 
urging  him  to  identify  himself  with  any  variety  of  it  until  he 
showed  signs  of  becoming  a   Catholic. 

To  this  rule  Brownson  may  appear  as  a  partial  exception,  but 
until  the  summer  of  1844  he  was  so  in  appearance  only.  It  is 
true  that  Isaac  Hecker  had  learned  from  him  the  claims  of  most  of 
the  great  forms  of  Protestantism,  and  got  his  personal  testimony  as 
to  the  emptiness  of  them  all.  Brownson  was  a  competent  witness, 
for  he  had  been  an  accepted  disciple  of  every  school,  from  sterile 
Presbyterianism  to  rank  Transcendentalism.  Although  of  a  certain 
testiness  of  temper,  he  bore  malice  to  no  man  and  to  no  body  of 
men.  His  testimony  was  in  the  presence  of  patent  facts,  and  his 
condemnation  of  all  forms  of  orthodox  Protestantism  in  the  end 
was  unreserved.  But,  up  to  the  date  given  above  he  still  made  a 
possible  exception  in  favor  of  Anglicanism.  In  the  middle  of  April, 
1843,  he  wrote  Isaac  a  letter,  motioning  him  toward  this  sect,  at  the 
same  time  affirming  that  he  could  not  quite  accept  it  for  himself. 

Such    counsel    was  no    better    than    motioning    him  away  from  it, 

130 


His  Search  among  the  Sects.  13 1 


and  was  but  a  symbol  of  Brownson's  own  devious  progress,  sway- 
ing now  to  one  side  and  again  to  the  other,  but  always  going 
forward  to  Rome.  But  young  Hecker  would  learn  for  himself. 
Of  an  abnormally  inquiring  mind  by  nature,  he  never  accepted  a 
witness  other  than  himself  about  any  matter  if  he  could  help  it. 
In  the  early  part  of  1844  the  question  of  religious  affiliation 
began  to  press  for  settlement  with  increasing  urgency,  casting 
him  at  times  into  an  agony  of  mind.  It  was  not  merely  that 
he  was  impelled  by  conscience  towards  the  fulness  of  truth,  but 
that  truth  in  its  simplest  elements  seemed  sometimes  to  be  lack- 
ing- to  him.  He  was  heard  to  say  in  after  years  that,  had  he  not 
found  Catholicity  true,  he  would  have  been  thrown  back  into  a 
scepticism  so  painful  as  to  suggest  suicide  as  a  relief.  Yet  those 
who  have  trodden  any  of  the  paths  which  lead  from  inherited 
heresy  to  true  doctrine,  will  appreciate  the  force  of  the  influences, 
both  personal  and  social,  which  induced  him  to  reconsider,  and 
make  for  himself  the  grand  rounds  of  Protestant  orthodoxy  before 
turning  his  back  upon  it  for  ever. 

We  find  him,  therefore,  going  diligently  to  all  who  claimed  to 
be  watchmen  on  the  walls  of  Sion,  to  seek  from  each  one  per- 
sonally that  countersign  which  would  tally  with  the  divine  word 
nature  and  grace  were  uttering  in  his  own  soul.  He  interviewed 
ministers  repeatedly.  "  Not  having  had,"  he  wrote  in  this  mag- 
azine for  November,  1887,  "personal  and  experimental  knowl- 
edge of  the  Protestant  denominations,  I  investigated  them  all, 
going  from  one  of  them  to  another — Episcopal,  Congregational, 
Baptist,  Methodist,  and  all — conferring  with  their  ministers  and 
reading  their  books.  It  was  a  dreary  business,  but  I  did  it.  I 
knew  Transcendentalism  well  and  had  been  a  radical  socialist. 
All  was  found  to  be  as  stated  above.  Brownson's  ripe  experience 
and  my  own  thoroughly  earnest  investigation  tallied  perfectly. 
Indeed,  the  more  you  examine  the  Protestant  sects  in  the  light 
of  first  orinciples  the  more  they  are  found  to  weaken  human 
certitude,  interfere  with  reason's  native  knowledge  of  God  and 
His  attributes,  and  perplex  the  free  working  of  the  laws  of 
human  thought.  Protestantism  is  no  religion  for  a  philosopher, 
unless  he  is  a  pessimist — if  you  can  call  such  a  being  a  philos- 
opher— and  adopts  Calvinism." 

Why  Calvinism,  with  its  dread  consistency  of  aversion  for 
human  nature,  did  not  attract  him  in  these  early  inquiries  was 
expressed      by    Father     Hecker    in     after    years     by    the    saying, 


!32  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


"Heresy  always  involves  a  mutilation  of  man's  natural  reason." 
The  typical  Calvinist  foams  against  man's  natural  capacity' for  the 
true  and  the  good,  and  one  of  its  representatives,  a  Presbyterian 
minister,  had  the  consistency  to  say  to  our  young  disciple  of 
nature,  "  Unless  you  believe  that  you  are  totally  depraved  you 
will  certainly  suffer  eternal  damnation."  These  words  were  spoken 
to  one  who  felt  some  sort  of  apostleship  growing  into  act  with- 
in his  bosom :  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  those  who  are  totally 
depraved  he  perceived  to  be  both  vain  and  suicidal.  Further- 
more, the  consciousness  of  his  own  upright  character,  his  experi- 
ence and  observation  of  human  virtue  in  others,  made  abstract 
arguments  needless  to  prove  that  Calvinism  is  an  outrage  on 
human  kind  and  a  blasphemy  against  the  Creator. 

Anglicanism,  too — uncleansed,  as  it  notoriously  is,  of  a  Calvin- 
istic  taint,  broken  up  by  absolute  license  of  dissent,  maintaining 
a  mere  outward  conformity  to  an  extremely  lax  discipline — 
affronted  Isaac  Hecker's  ideal  of  the  communion  of  man  and 
God  ;  man  seeking  and  God  giving  the  one  only  revelation  of 
divine  truth,  unifying  and  organizing  the  Christian  community  : 
and  this  in  spite  of  an  attraction  for  the  beauty  of  the  Episco- 
pal service  which  he  often  confesses  in  his  diary. 

In  the  same  scrupulous  spirit  he  tried  the  Baptists,  though  he 
must  have  known  that  they  were,  almost  without  exception, 
Calvinists.  He  had  a  conference  with  one  of  their  ministers 
which,  from  the  account  he  gives  of  it,  must  have  degenerated 
into  something  like  a  wrangle.  "  If,"  said  young  Hecker,  "  you 
admit  that  baptism  is  not  a  saving  ordinance,  why,  then,  do  you 
separate  yourselves  from  the  rest  of  Christendom  on  a  mere 
question  of  ceremonial  observance?"  There  could  be  no  satis- 
factory answer  to  this  question. 

As  to  the  Methodists,  they  made  fifty  years  ago  much  less 
pretension  to  an  intellectual  footing  in  the  religious  world  than  at 
the  present  day.  One  thing,  Father  Hecker  tells  us,  drew  his  sym- 
pathetic regards  their  way — their  doctrine  of  perfection.  He  went  to 
one  of  their  ministers,  a  Dr.  Crawford.  "  I  have  read  in  the  Bible," 
said  he,  "  '  If  thou  wouldst  be  perfect,  go  and  sell  all  thou  hast'  ; 
now,  that  is  the  kind  of  Christian  I  want  to  be."  Tie  answer  was: 
"  Well,  young  man,  you  must  not  carry  things  too  far;  you  are  too 
enthusiastic.  Christ  does  not  require  that  of  us  in  the  nineteenth 
century."  After  conversing  with  him  for  some  time,  the  minister 
told  him  to  give  up  such   ideas  and  study  for  the  ministry. 


His  Search  among  the  Sects.  133 


A  singular  episode  in  his  search  was  his  meeting  with  two  en- 
thusiastic Mormon  apostles,  and  a  long  and  careful  examination, 
under  their  guidance,  of  the  then  newly-delivered  revelations  and 
prophecies  of  Joseph  Smith.  He  describes  his  Mormon  acquain- 
tances as  men  of  some  intelligence,  but  given  over,  totally  and 
blindly,  to  Smith's  imposture. 

But  what  cut  under  the  claims  of  every  form  of  Protestantism 
was  the  error,  common  to  them  all,  concerning  the  rule  of  faith  : 
the  private  and  independent  judgment  of  the  teaching  of  Scripture 
made  by  each  man  for  himself.  As  the  real  owner  of  a  homestead 
has  most  reason  to  dread  a  dealer  in  false  titles,  so  the  truly  free 
man  has  most  reason  to  dread  false  liberty.  Isaac  Hecker  was  the 
type  of  rational  individual  liberty,  hence  the  very  man  to  abhor 
most  the  caricature  of  that  prerogative  in  the  typical  Protestant. 

Five     years    before    his    death,   in  an    article    in     The    Catholic 
World    entitled     "  Luther     and     the    Diet    of     Worms,"      Father 
Hecker  put  the  case  thus  :     "  It    is    a    misapprehension    common 
among  Protestants  to  suppose  that  Catholics,  in    refusing  the  ap- 
peal of  Martin   Luther  at  the  Diet    of    Worms,  condemn  the    use 
of   reason  or  individual  judgment,  or  whatever  one  pleases  to  call 
the  personal  act  which   involves  the  exercise  of  man's  intellect  and 
free  will.      The  truth  is,   personal  judgment  flows   from  what  con- 
stitutes    man    a    rational     being,    and    there    is    no    power    under 
heaven  that  can  alienate    personal  judgment    from    man,    nor    can 
man,   if  he  would,  disappropriate  it.      The  cause  of  all  the  trouble 
at  the    Diet    of  Worms  was    not    personal    judgment,   for   neither 
party  put  that  in  question.       The  point  in  dispute    was  the  right 
application  of   personal  judgment.       Catholics  maintained,  and  al- 
ways   have    and    always    will    maintain,   that    a    divine    revelation 
necessitates  a   divine   interpreter.       Catholics    resisted,  and  always 
will  resist,  on  the  ground  of  its  incompetency,  a  human  authority  j 
applied  to  the  interpretation  of  the  contents  of  a  divinely-revealed  \ 
religion.       They  consider  such  an  authority,  whether  of  the  indi- 
vidual or  the  state,  in  religious    matters  an    intrusion.      Catholics 
insist,  without  swerving,  upon  believing  in  religion  none  but  God. 
.      .      .      To    investigate    and    make  one's   self   certain     that     God 
has     made     a    revelation     is    of    obligation,    and     consistent    with 
Christianity.       But  as  a    divine    revelation  springs  from    a    source 
above  the  sphere  of    reason,   it  necessitates    a    divinely  authorized  \ 
and    divinely  assisted  interpreter  and   teacher.     This  is  one  of  the 
essential  functions  of  the  Church.'' 


i  34  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

That  the  use  of  the  Scriptures  is  not,  and  cannot  be  made 
the  ordinary  means  for  making  all  men  Christians,  was  plain  to 
Isaac  Hecker  for  other  reasons  than  the  essential  one  thus  clearly 
stated.  For,  if  such  were  the  case,  God  would  bestow  on  all  men 
the  gift  to  read  at  sight,  or  cause  all  to  learn  how  to  read,  or 
would  have  recorded  in  the  Book  itself  the  words,  "  Unless  a 
man  reads  the  Bible,  and  believes  what  he  reads,  he  cannot  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  God,"  or  their  plain  equivalent ;  whereas  the 
Bible,  as  we  have  it  now,  did  not  exist  in  the  apostolic  days,  the 
most  glorious  era  of  the  Christian  Church.  Such  is  Father  Heck- 
er's  argument  in  a  powerful  article  in  The  Catholic  World  for 
October,  1883.      He  continues: 

"  But  suppose  that  everybody  knew  how  to  read,  or  all  men 
were  gifted  to  read  at  first  sight ;  suppose  that  everybody  had  a 
copy  of  the  Bible  within  his  reach,  a  genuine  Bible,  and  knew 
with  certitude  what  it  means ;  suppose  that  Christ  himself  had 
laid  it  down  as  a  rule  that  the  Bible,  without  note  or  comment, 
and  as  interpreted  by  each  one  for  himself,  is  the  ordinary  way 
of  receiving  the  grace  of  salvation — which  is  the  vital  principle 
of  Protestantism  ;  suppose  all  these  evident  assumptions  as  true. 
Would  the  Bible  even  in  that  case  suffice  to  make  any  one  man, 
woman,  or  child  a  Christian  ?  Evidently  not.  And  why  ?  For 
that  is  a  personal  work,  and  the  personal  work  of  Christ;  for 
Christ  alone  can  make  men  Christians.  And  no  account  of  Christ 
is  Christ.  .  .  .  The  contents  of  a  book,  whatever  these  may 
be,  are  powerless  to  place  its  readers  in  direct  contact  and  vital 
relations  with  its  author.  No  man  is  so  visionary  as  to  imagine 
that  the  mental  operation  of  reading  the  Iliad,  or  the  PJiccdo,  or 
the  Divine  Comedy,  suffices  to  put  him  in  communication  with  the 
personality  of  Homer,  or  Plato,  or  Dante.  All  effort  is  in  vain 
to  slake  the  thirst  of  a  soul  famishing  for  the  Fountain  of  living 
waters  from  a  brook,  or  to  stop  the  cravings  of  a  soul  for  the 
living  Saviour  with  a  printed  book.  .  .  .  His  words  are 
'  Come  unto  Me  all  that  are  weary  and  heavy  laden,  and  I  will 
refresh  you.'  It  was  the  attempt  to  make  men  Christians  by 
reading  the  Bible  that  broke  Christendom  into  fragments,  multi- 
plied jarring  Christian  sects,  produced  swarms,  of*  doubters,  filled 
the  world  with  sceptics  and  scoffers  at  all  religion,  frustrated  com- 
bined Christian  action,  and  put  back  the  Christian  conquest  of 
the  world  for  centuries.     Three  centuries  of  experience  have  made 


His  Search  among  the  Sects.  135 


it  evident  enough  that,  if  Christianity  is  to  be  maintained  as  a 
principle  of  life  among  men,  it  must  be  on  another  footing  than 
the  suicidal  hypothesis  invented  in  the  sixteenth  century  after 
the  birth  of  its  divine  Founder." 

His  farewell  interviews  with  exponents  of  the  Protestant  claims 
were  mainly,  if  not  wholly,  with  representatives  of  Anglicanism. 
This  did  not  arise  from  any  grounded  hope  of  getting  all  he 
wanted  there,  but  from  an  insensible  drift  of  his  mind  upon  those 
currents  of  thought  set  in  motion  by  the  great  power  of  New- 
man. The  air  was  full  of  promise  of  non- Roman  Catholicity,  and 
the  voices  which  called  the  English-speaking  world  to  listen  were 
the  most  eloquent  since  Shakespeare.  It  needed  but  a  dim 
hope  pointing  along  any  road  to  induce  the  delicate  conscience 
of  Isaac  Hecker  to  try  if  it  might  not  be  a  thoroughfare.  But 
neither  in  his  copious  entries  in  the  diary  at  this  period,  nor  in 
his  articles  in  this  magazine  for  the  year  1887  on  Dr.  Brown- 
son's  difficulties — and  these  were  much  like  his  own — do  we  find 
any  trace  of  his  discovering  in  Anglicanism  a  germ  of  Catholic- 
ity unfolding  from  the  chrysalis  of  genuine  Protestantism  and 
casting  it  off.  This  was  readily  perceived  in  Isaac  Hecker's  bear- 
ing and  conversation  by  acute  Episcopalians  themselves,  as  in 
the  case  of  Dr.  Seabury,  who,  as  Father  Hecker  relates  in  the 
articles  above  referred  to,  prophesied  Brownson's  conversion  to 
Catholicity,  and  did  so  for  reasons  which  Seabury  must  have 
known  would  apply  to  young  Hecker  also. 

Many  at  this  time  were  being  drawn  by  poetical  sentiment  to 
the  beautiful  and  religious  forms  of  Episcopalian    worship  ;    drawn 
and  held  rather  by  imagination  and  feeling  than  by  any  adhesion 
of  their  minds    to  distinctive  Anglican  doctrines.     Father  Hecker 
was,  indeed,  more  poetical  in  temperament  than  at  first  acquaint- 
ance he  seemed  to  be,  but  his    mind  was    so    constituted  that  he 
must  have  the  main  reasons  of  things,   whether    religious  or  not, 
firmly  settled  before  he  could  enjoy  their    use.      Nor  could  he  be 
content  with  fragments  of  revealed  truth,  such  as  are  found  in  all 
denominations  of  non-Catholics.     "  There  is  a  large  floating  body 
of  Catholic  truth  in  the  world,"  says  Newman  ;     "  it  comes  down 
by  tradition  from  age  to  age.     .     .     .      Men  [outside  the  church] 
take  up  and  profess  these  scattered    truths,    merely    because  they 
fall  in  with  them."      Not  so   Father  Hecker:    no  flotsam  and  jet- 
sam of  doctrine  for  him,    unless    some  fragment    would    reveal  to 


136  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 

him  the  name  of  the  ship  from  which  it  had  been  torn,  and  the 
port  from  which  she  had  sailed,  and  so  lead  him  to  the  discovery 
of  the  ship  herself,  crew,  cargo,  port,  and  owner. 

Yet  he  lingered  long  over  the  claim  of  Anglicanism  to  be  the 
Catholic  religion.  Of  Mr.  Haight  and  of  his  interviews  with  him 
we  have  already  spoken.  Through  him  he  came  across  a  pub- 
lished letter  of  a  Mr.  Norris,  Episcopal  minister  in  Carlisle,  Pa., 
which  so  pleased  him  for  its  Catholic  tendency  that  he  wrote  to 
him,  asking  to  be  allowed  to  go  to  Carlisle  and  live  there  as  the 
writer's  pupil.  The  answer,  though  a  refusal  of  this  request, 
was  kind,  and  contained  a  cordial  invitation  to  visit  Mr.  Norris 
after  Easter.  On  his  way  to  Concord,  in  the  following  spring, 
Isaac  made  a  long  detour  to  the  little  town  in  southern  Pennsyl- 
vania, interviewed  Mr.  Norris,  and  came  away  no  wiser  than  before. 

The  following  words  of  the  diary,  under  date  of  March  30, 
1844,  refer  to  an  Episcopal  dignitary  of  higher  grade: 

"Mr.  Haight  gave  me  a  note  of  introduction  to  Dr.  Seabury. 
I  called  to  see  him  two  evenings  ago  and  had  a  very  pleasant 
conversation  with  him.  His  sociableness  and  perfect  openness  of 
expression  I  was  quite  delighted  with.  He  frankly  acknowledged 
that  he  thought  that  error  had  been  committed  on  both  sides  in 
the  controversy  of  the  Reformation  between  the  Pope  and  the 
Anglican  Church.  He  recommended  me  to  examine  those  points 
which  kept  me  from  joining  the  Anglican  or  Roman  Church  be- 
fore I  should  do  anything  further,  as  there  was  the  charge  of 
schism  against  the  Anglican  Church  and  neglect  of  discipline 
among  the  members  of  her  communion.  I  told  him  that  though 
the  Church  of  Rome  may  commit  errors  in  practice,  she  had  not 
committed  any  in  principle,  and  that  it  was  easier  to  prune  a 
luxuriant  tree  than  to  revivify  a  tree  almost  exhausted  of  life.  I 
left  him  with  an  earnest  invitation  to  call  again." 

This  half-confession  of  schism  and  frank  avowal  of  lack  of 
discipline  on  the  part  of  a  perfectly  representative  official  of 
the  Anglican  Church  was  something  singularly  Providential,  for 
it  came  within  a  fortnight  after  Isaac  Hecker's  first  interview 
with  Bishop  Hughes,  described  in  the  diary  under  date  of 
March  22.  That  powerful  man  and  great  prelate  was  a  type 
of  the  best  form  of  Catholicism  at  that  day.  He  was  of  the 
Church  militant  in  more  senses  than  one  ;  and  the  military  qual- 
ities which   have  inspired  the  public  action  of  Catholic  champions 


His  Scare Ji  among  the  Sects.  137 


for  the  past  three  centuries  were  strongly  developed  in  him  - 
That  it  was  for  the  good  of  religion  that  it  should  have  such 
characters  as  John  Hughes  to  care  for  its  public  welfare  there  is 
no  room  to  doubt.  Since  then  the  temper  of  Protestant  Ameri- 
cans has  undergone  a  change  which  is  almost  radical.  It  has 
grown  infinitely  more  just  and  kindly  towards  Catholics.  The 
decay  of  the  Protestant  bond  of  cohesion  from  lapse  of  time  and 
from  the  unsettlement  of  belief  in  its  chief  doctrines  ;  the  fight- 
ing of  two  wars,  one  of  them  the  great  Rebellion,  which  fused 
the  populations  of  States  and  acquainted  men  better  with  their 
neighbors;  the  coming  in  of  millions  of  Catholic  foreigners  whose 
every  breath  was  an  aspiration  for  liberty  ;  the  rise,  culmination, 
and  collapse  of  the  anti-Catholic  movement  termed  Know-nothing- 
ism  ;  the  polemical  warfare  of  Bishop  Hughes  himself,  and  of 
his  contemporaries — these  and  other  causes  have  made  it  possi- 
ble, nay  necessary,  to  treat  non-Catholics  in  a  different  spirit 
from  what  wisdom  dictated  fifty  years  ago. 

If  Dr.  Seabury  owned  to  schism  and  lack  of  discipline  in 
Anglicanism,  Bishop  John  Hughes  brought  out  to  Isaac  Hecker 
the  very  contrary  as  the  attractive  qualities  of  Catholicity.  He 
was  questioned  by  the  young  inquirer  about  the  latter's  chances 
for  studying  for  the  priesthood  should  he  decide  on  entering  the 
Church,  and  he  answered  according  to  rigid  notions  of  the  place 
of  authority  in  religion. 

"  He  said,"  are  the  words  of  the  diary,  ending  a  summary 
of  the  interview,  "  that  their  Church  was  one  of  discipline.  I 
thanked  him  for  the  information  that  he  gave,  and  told  him  that 
it  was  for  just  such  instruction  that  I  sought  him.  He  seemed 
to  think  that  I  had  some  loose  notions  of  the  Church.  So  far, 
this  settles  my  present  intention  of  uniting  myself  with  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  Church.  Though  I  feel  not  in  the  least  disinclined 
to  be  governed  by  the  most  rigid  discipline  of  any  church,  yet i 
I  am  not  prepared  to  enter  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  at  pres- 
ent. It  is  not  national  with  us,  hence  it  does  not  meet  our 
wants,  nor  does  it  fully  understand  and  sympathize  with  the  ex- 
perience and  dispositions  of  our  people.  It  is  principally  made 
up  of  adopted  and  foreign  individuals." 

To  us  this  is  exceedingly  instructive,  for  it  tells  us  how  not 
to  meet  the  earnest  seeker  after  Catholic  truth.  Even  a  good- 
natured  dog  does  not  show  his  teeth  when  caressed,  nor  is  an 
artillery    salute    the    only   show    of    amity    between    even    warlike 


138  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


powers.  Yet  the  repellant  attitude  of  the  great  controversialist 
was  that  of  very  many  representative  Catholics  of  his  time,  es- 
pecially those,  holding  his  high  office.  For  although  he  really  did 
know  the  American  people,  and  although  their  country  was  fully  his 
own,  and  was  by  him  deeply  and  intelligently  loved,  yet  he  did 
not  understand  or  sympathize  with  the  religious  movements  of 
which  his  strange  young  visitor  was  the  truest  type.  He  after- 
wards knew  him  better  and  loved  him. 

The  toss  thus  given  Isaac  Hecker  by  Bishop  Hughes's  cata- 
pult of  "  discipline  "  had  the  good  effect  of  throwing  him  again 
upon  a  full  and  perfect  and  final  investigation  of  Protestantism. 
With  what  immediate  result  is  shown  by  the  Seabury  interview 
already  related,  and  with  what  honesty  of  purpose  is  shown  by 
the  following  words  written  the  same  day : 

"  If  a  low  passion  usurps  the  place  of  pure  love,  if  a  blind 
prejudice  usurps  the  place  of  Catholic  truth,  he  who  informs  me 
of  it,  though  he  had  been  my  enemy  (if  enemies  it  is  possible  for 
me  to  have),  I  will  receive  him  as  an  angel  from  heaven,  as  an 
instrument  of  God.  My  honor,  my  consistency,  my  character 
consists  in  faithfulness  to  God's  love,  God's  truth,  and  nothing 
else.  Let  me  be  but  true  to  Him — how  then  can  I  be  false  to 
either  man  or  the  world  ?  It  is  Him  who  knows  our  secret 
thoughts  that  we  should  fear  (if  fear  we  must)  and  obey." 

Thus  it  was  Anglicanism  that  engaged  Isaac  Hecker's  last 
efforts  to  adjust  a  Protestant  outside  to  his  inward  experience 
with  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  this  for  a  reason  quite  evident. 
That  body  pretended,  then  as  now,  to  be  the  Catholic  Christian 
Church,  assisting  men  to  union  with  God  by  a  divinely-founded 
external  organism,  but  not  demanding  the  sacrifice  of  human 
liberty.  To  an  inexperienced  observer  such  as  he,  it  seemed 
possible  that  Anglicanism  might  be  the  union  of  historical 
Christianity  with  manly  freedom.  Closer  observation  proved  to 
him  not  only  the  compatibility  of  Catholicity  and  liberty,  but 
that  Anglicanism,  though  assuming  some  of  the  forms  of  Catho- 
lic unity,  is  kept  alive  by  the  principle  of  individual  separatism 
common  to  all  Protestant  sects.  For  a  time,  or  in  a  place,  it  may 
have  much  or  little  of  Catholicity ;  but  in  no  place  can  it  live  for 
a  day  without  the  Protestant  principle  of  a  right  of  final  appeal 
to  the  individual  judgment  to   decide  upon  the  verity  of  doctrine. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

HIS     LIFE     AT   CONCORD. 

HAVE  been    groping  in  darkness,  seeking  where  Thou  wast 
1      not,  and  I  found  Thee  not.      But,  O    Lord    my    God,    Thou 
hast  found  me — leave  me  not." 

These  words  are  part  of  a  long  prayer  written  by  Isaac 
Hecker  in  his  diary  April  23,  1844,  after  his  arrival  at  Concord, 
Mass.  He  appears  to  have  gone  directly  there  from  Carlisle, 
Pa.,  where  he  had  spent  some  days  with  the  Rev.  William  Her- 
bert Norris,  whose  published  letter  to  "A  Sincere  Enquirer" 
had  excited  in  the  young  man  a  hope  that  he  might  find  in  him 
a  teacher  whose  deep  inward  experiences  would  be  complemented 
by  the  adequate  external  guaranty  that  he  was  seeking.  We 
have  already  noted  that  he  was  disappointed.  He  states  the  rea- 
son very  suggestively  in  a  letter  written  at  the  time  : 

"  Alas,  that  men  should  speak  of  those  things  they  are  most 
ignorant  of!  What  hopes  did  he  not  awaken  in  my  bosom  as  I 
read  his  letter  to  a  Sincere  Enquirer,  and  how  were  they  blasted 
when  I  met  him  and  found  that  it  was  not  he,  but  Hooker, 
Newman,  Paul,  etc.  !  It  is  a  sad  fact  that  many  believe,  but 
very  few  give  themselves  up  to  what  they  believe  so  that  they 
may  have  the  substance  of  their  belief." 

Isaac  Hecker's  business  in  Concord  had,  as  usual,  two  sides. 
Externally  it  meant  going  on  with  Greek  and  Latin,  under  the 
guidance  of  the  lately  deceased  George  P.  Bradford,  a  scholar 
of  rare  acquirements,  whose  acquaintance  he  had  made  at  Brook 
Farm  the  previous  year.  The  end  he  sought  in  this  study  was 
to  fit  himself  for  "  working  in  the  field  of  the  church."  But  as 
the  question  of  which  church  was  not  even  yet  fully  settled  in 
his  mind,  his  search  for  the  true  religion  still  remained  his  deepest 
and  most  inmost  purpose.  Nevertheless,  he  was  enjoying  at  this 
time  one  of  his  periods  of  profound  interior  and  exterior  peace. 
"  I  feel,"  he  writes,  "  that  I  am  growing  in  God's  grace.  To 
Him  I  look  for  support.  Will  He  not  impart  wisdom  as  well  as 
love  ?  " 

His    surroundings  at  Concord  are    so  vividly  described  in    the 

'39 


140  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


letters  he  wrote  to  his  family  that  we  cannot  omit  quotations 
from  them.  The  first  of  these  is  dated  at  Brook  Farm,  and  de- 
scribes his  efforts  to  find  a  room  after  reaching  the  village.  He 
seems  to  have  gone  at  once  to  Mr.  Bradford's  house  on  his  ar- 
rival. 

"  April  22,  '44. —  .  .  .  After  supper  we  sallied  forth 
again.  We  saw  a  room,  and  what  do  you  imagine  they  charged 
for  it  ?  Seventy-five  dollars  a  year ! !  This  was  out  of  the 
question.  We  went  further  and  found  a  room,  good  size,  very 
good  people,  furnished,  and  to  be  kept  in  order  for  eight  dollars 
a  quarter.  This  seemed  reasonable  to  me,  and  also  to  Mr.  Brad- 
ford. I  felt  safe  in  telling  the  lady  that  I  thought  I  should  take 
it.  I  requested  Mr.  Bradford  to  keep  a  look-out  for  me  while  I 
was  gone,  and  if  we  could  not  find  a  better  place  before  I  re- 
turned I  would  accept  this.  This  morning  I  left  Concord  to 
come  and  see  Charles  Dana  concerning  the  books  I  shall  require, 
and  to  see  some  of  my  friends.  I  got  into  Boston  at  ten  o'clock, 
and  walked  out  here  by  dinner-time.  All  of  the  old  set  that  are 
here  were  delighted  to  see  me.  I  have  conversed  with  a  few  of 
them,  and  find  them  more  open  to  consider  the  claims  of  the 
Church  than  I  had  anticipated." 

"  Concord,  April  24,  '44. — Dear  Friends  :  This  evening  I  can 
say  that  I  am  settled,  comfortably  settled  in  every  particular.  All 
that  is  needed  for  my  comfort  is  here  :  a  good  straw  bed,  a  large 
table,  carpet,  washstand,  book-case,  stove,  chairs,  looking-glass — 
all,  all  that  is  needful.  And  this  for  seventy- five  cents  a  week, 
including  lights;  wood  is  extra  pay.  This  is  the  inanimate  about 
me.  The  lady  of  the  house,  Mrs.  Thoreau,  is  a  woman.  The 
only  fear  I  have  about  her  is  that  she  is  too  much  like  dear 
mother — she  will  take  too  much  care  of  me.  She  has  told  me 
how  she  used  to  sit  up  nights,  waiting  for  a  young  man  whom 
she  had  taken  to  board,  to  come  home.  He  was  a  stranger  to 
her,  but  still  she  insists  that  she  must  treat  all  as  she  would  her 
own,  and  even  with  greater  care.  If-  you  were  to  see  her, 
mother,  you  would  be  perfectly  satisfied  that  I  have  fallen  into 
good  hands,  and  met  a  second  mother,  if  that  is  possible." 

"■April  25,  1.30  P.M. — I  have  just  finished  my  dinner;  it 
was  ein   hcrrlichcs  Essen.      Unleavened  bread  (from  home),   maple- 


His  Life  at  Concord.  141 


sugar,  and  apples  which  I  purchased  this  morning.  Previous  to 
taking  dinner  I  said  my  first  lesson  to  Mr.  Bradford  in  Greek 
and  Latin. 

"  I  am  extremely  well  situated,  and  feel  contented  in  myself, 
and  deeply  grateful  to  you  all  for  your  goodness  in  helping  me 
to  pursue  the  real  purpose  of  my  being.  All  we  can  do  is  to 
be  faithful  to  God  and  to  the  work  He  has  given  us  to  do,  and, 
whatever  end  He  may  lead  us  to,  to  have  that  central  faith  that 
'all  is  for  the  best.'  There  is  only  one  life,  and  that  is  life  in 
God ;  and  only  one  death,  and  that  is  separation  from  Him. 
And  this  life  is  not  and  cannot  be  measured  by  the  external 
eve.  We  must  be  fixed  in  God  before  we  can  do  anything 
rightly — study,  labor,  social,   political  or  of  any  kind.      .      .      . 

"  I  have  written  this  letter  full  of  nothingness ;  I  will  be  more 
settled  the  next  time  and  do  better.  Send  all  your  love  to  me 
— think  more  of  heaven  and  we  shall  grow  happier.  If  once 
celestial  love  has  touched  us,  we  cannot  rest  until  it  dwells  and 
abides  in  our  hearts.  To  you  all  I  send  my  warmest  and  purest 
love. — Isaac." 

"Concord,  May  2,  1844. — Dear  Friends:  It  was  my  intention 
not  to  write  home  until  I  had  received  a  letter  from  you  ;  but 
as  none  has  yet  come,  and  I  am  in  want  of  a  few  things,  I  will 
write  you  immediately. 

''You  can  scarcely  imagine  how  different  my  life  is  now  from 
what  it  was  at  home.  It  is  like  living  in  another  world.  It  is 
possible  that  you  might  not  be  suited  with  the  conditions  here, 
but  to  me  they  are  the  very  ones  which  are  congenial  to  re- 
present state  of  being.  I  am  alone  from  early  dawn  to  late  at 
night ;  no  one  to  intrude  upon  my  quiet  except  Mr.  Bradford, 
who  occupies  the  hour  between  twelve  and  one  to  hear  my  re- 
citations, and  Mrs.  Thoreau  a  few  minutes  in  making  my  bed  in 
the  mornings.  The  rest  of  my  time  is  devoted  to  study,  com- 
munion, and,  a  little  of  it,  to  reading.      How  unlike  the  life  at  home! 

"  The  thought  just  occurs  to  me  that  if  such  a  life  seems 
desirable  to  you,  how  easily  you  could  obtain  it.  What  is  it 
that  costs  so  much  labor  of  mind  and  body  ?  Is  it  not  that  which 
we  consume  on  and  in  our  bodies  ?  Then,  if  we  reduce  the 
consumption  there  will  be  less  need  of  production.  Most  of  our 
labor  is  labor  for  the  body.  We  are  treasuring  up  corruption 
for  the  day  of  death  ;   is  this  not  so  ?     As  we  rise  in  spirit  above 


142  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

the  body  we  shall  bring  all  its  appetites  into  subjection  to  the 
moral  law. 

"  This  is  what  I  should  like  you  to  do  for  me.  All  the  food 
that  I  brought  with  me  is  gone,  and  as  I  would  like  to  have  my 
razor  sent  on,  and  as  the  articles  you  can  give  me  would  be 
better  than  any  I  can  get  here,  you  will  be  so  kind  as  to  send 
with  it  the  following  list,  if  you  think  best  :  1.  Put  in  some  hard 
bread.  2.  A  few  unleavened  wheat  biscuits,  such  as  I  used  to 
make.  3.  Some  unleavened  Graham  biscuits.  4.  A  five-cent  or 
ten-cent  loaf  of  bread,  if  you  think  it  will  keep  good  until  it  gets 
here.  5.  Get  me  a  linen  summer  frock-coat  such  as  are  worn — 
those  loose  ones.  Dunster  has  my  measure  and  he  can  cut  it 
for  you.  Let  it  be  made.  I  have  only  a  summer  jacket  with 
me,  and  that  is  John's.  6.  Do  not  forget  the  razor.  You  can 
put  in  any  other  simple,  solid  food,  if  you  wish  to  send  any. 
Do  I  ask  too  much  from  you  ?  If  so,  you  must  be  kind  enough 
to  tell  me.  Your  labor  is  already  too  great,  and  I  am  burdening 
you  with  more. 

"  How  much  my  heart  loves  you  all  !  How  unkindly  I  have 
spoken  to  you  at  times  !  You  will  forgive  me  and  love  me  none 
the  less,  will  you  not  ?  May  we  live  together  more  and  more  in 
the  unity  of  love." 

"May,  1844. —  .  .  .  My  studies  are  pursued  with  the  same 
spirit  in  which  they  were  commenced,  and  there  seems  to  me  no 
reason  to  fear  but  that  they  will  be  continued  in  the  same  for 
some  time  to  come.  However,  I  would  affirm  what  has  been 
affirmed  by  me  for  these  two  years  back,  the  only  consistency 
that  I  can  promise  is  submission  to  the  Spirit  that  is  guiding 
me,  whatever  may  be  the  external  appearance  or  superficial 
consequences  to  others. 

"  How  our  astonishment  should  be  excited  to  perceive  that 
we  have  been  in  such  a  long  sleep,  and  that  even  now  we  see 
but  dimly.  Let  us  each  ask  ourselves  in  whose  business  we  are 
employed.  Is  it  our  Father's,  or  is  it  not?  If  not,  let  us  im- 
mediately turn  to  the  business  of  our  Father,  the  only  object  of 
our  life.     Let  us  submit  wholly  to  the  guidance  of  Love." 

"To  Mrs.  Catherine  J.  Hecker.  Concord,  May  31, 
1844. — You  speak  of  my  situation  as  pleasant,  and  so  it  is  to 
me.     Though  the  house  is  situated  on  the  street  of  a  village,  the 


His  Life  at  Concord.  143 


street  is  beautifully  arched  with  trees  for  some  distance,  and  my 
room  is  very  pleasant.  One  window  is  wholly  shaded  by  sweet 
honeysuckle,  which  is  now  in  blossom,  filling  the  room  with  its 
mild  fragrance.  The  little  humming-birds  visit  its  flowers  fre- 
quently without  being  disturbed  by  my  presence." 

The  diary,  which  runs  side  by  side  with  these  letters,  was,  as 
usual,  the  recipient  of  more  intimate  self-communings  than  could 
be  shared  with  any  friend.  It  shows  that  although  he  was  now 
well-nigh  convinced  of  the  truth  of  Catholicity,  yet  that  he  still 
felt  a  lingering  indecision,  produced,  perhaps,  by  a  haunting 
memory  of  the  stern  front  of  "  discipline  "  he  had  encountered  in 
Bishop  Hughes.  This  seemed  like  a  phantom  of  terror  to  the 
young  social  reformer,  whose  love  of  liberty,  though  rational,  was 
then  and  ever  afterwards  one  of  the  passions  of  his  soul.  Yet 
we  rarely  find  now  in  these  pages  any  statement  of  specific 
reasons  for  and  against  Catholicity  such  as  were  plentiful  during 
the  period  preceding  his  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Haight,  Dr.  Sea- 
bury,  and  Mr.  Norris.  He  seems  to  shudder  as  he  stands  on  the 
bank  and  looks  upon  the  flowing  and  cleansing  stream  ;  but  his 
hesitancy  is  caused  not  so  much  by  any  unanswered  difficulties 
of  his  reason  as  by  his  sensibilities,  by  vague  feelings  of  alarm 
for  the  integrity  of  his  manhood.  He  feared  lest  the  waters  ( 
might  cleanse  him  by  skinning  him  alive.  Catholicity,  as  typi-  ' 
fied  in  Bishop  Hughes,  her  Celtic-American  champion,  seemed 
to  him  "  a  fortified  city,  and  a  pillar  of  iron,  and  a  wall  of  brass 
against  the  whole  land." 

Now,  Isaac  Hecker  was  built  for  a  missionary,  and  the  ex- 
treme view  of  the  primary  value  of  highly-wrought  discipline 
which  he  encountered  everywhere  among  Catholics,  though  not 
enough  to  blind  him  to  the  essential  liberty  of  the  Church,  was 
enough  to  delay  him  in  his  progress  to  her.  There  can  be  little 
doubt  that  multitudes  of  men  and  women  of  less  discernment  and 
feebler  will  than  his,  have  been  and  still  are  kept  entirely  out 
of  the  Church  by  the  same  cause. 

Only  at  long  intervals,  as  we  near  the  last  pages  of  the  large 
and  closely-written  book  containing  the  first  volume  of  his  diary, 
do  we  meet  with  those  agonizing  complaints  of  dryness,  the  dis- 
tress of  doubt,  the  weary  burden  of  insoluble  difficulties,  so  com- 
mon heretofore.  He  seems,  indeed,  no  longer  battling ;  the 
victory  is  won  ;    but  it  remains  to  know  what  are  the  spoils  and 


144  The  Life  of  Father  Heckcr. 

where  they  are    to  be    gathered.     Of  course  there  are  interludes 

of  his    irrepressible    philosophizing    on    moral  questions.      And  at 

the  very  end,    under    date  of  May    23,    1844,  we  find  the  follow- 
ing: 

"This  afternoon  brings  me  to  the  close  of  this  book.  How 
different  are  the  emotions  with  which  I  close  it  from  those  with 
which  I  opened  it  at  Brook  Farm,  now  little  more  (a  month) 
than  a  year  ago  i  How  fruitful  has  this  year  been  to  me !  How 
strangely  mysterious  and  beautiful !  And  now  my  soul  foreshadows 
more  the  next  year  than  ever  it  presaged  before.  My  life  is 
beyond  my  grasp,  and  bears  me  on  will-lessly  to  its  destined 
haven.  Like  a  rich  fountain  it  overflows  on  every  side ;  from 
within  flows  unceasingly  the  noiseless  tide.  The  many  changes 
and  unlooked-for  results  and  circumstances,  within  and  without, 
of  the  coming  year  I  'would  no  more  venture  to  anticipate  than 
to  count  the  stars.  It  is  to  me  now  as  if  I  had  just  been  born, 
and  I  live  in  the  Sabbath  of  creation.  Every  thing  that  I  see 
I  feel  called  on  to  give  a  name  ;  it  has  a  new  meaning  to  me. 
Should  this  life  grow — what  ?  It  is  a  singular  fact  that,  although 
conscious  of  a  more  interior  and  potent  force  at  work  within,  I 
am  now  more  quiet  and  will-less  than  I  wras  when  it  at  first 
affected  me.  I  feel  like  a  child,  full  of  joy  and  pliability ;  and 
all  ambition  of  every  character  seems  to  have  left  me.  I  see 
where  I  was  heretofore,  and  the  degree  of  externality  which  was 
mixed  with  the  influences  that  I  co-operated  with,  an  externality 
from  which  I  now  feel  that  I  have  been  freed.  It  does  seem  to 
me  that  all  worldly  prospect  that  ever  was  before  me  is  gone, 
and  as  if  I  were  weak,  very  weak,  in  the  sight  of  the  world  ;  so 
I  really  am.  I  feel  no  more  potency  than  a  babe.  Yet  I  have 
a  will-less  power  of  love  which  will  conquer  through  me,  and 
which,  O  gracious  Lord,  I  never  dreamt  of  before." 

In  the  middle  of  the  above  entry  he  thus  notes  an  in- 
terruption, and  records  a  lesson  taught  by  the  late  New  England 
spring :  "  George  and  Burrill  Curtis  came  in,  and  I  have  just 
returned  from  a  walk  in  the*  woods  with  them.  May  the  buds 
within  blossom,  and  may  their  fruit  ripen  in  my  prayers  to 
God." 

He  was  now,  indeed,  very  near  his  goal,  though  even  yet  he 
did  not  clearly    see    it.      And    once    more   all    his    active   powers 


His  Life  at  Concord.  145 


deserted  him.  Study  became  impossible.  His  mind  was  drawn 
so  strongly  in  upon  itself  that  neither  work  nor  play,  neither 
books  nor  the  renewed  intercourse  which  at  this  period  he  sought 
with  his  old  friends  in  Boston  and  at  Brook  Farm,  could  any 
longer  fasten  his  attention.  He  opens  his  new  diary  with  a  record 
of  the  trial  he  has  just  made  in  order  to  discover  "  whether  in 
mixing  with  the  world  I  should  not  be  somewhat  influenced  by 
their  life  and  brought  into  new  relations  with  my  studies.  But 
it  was  to  no  purpose  that  I  went.  .  .  .  There  was  no  in- 
ducement that  I  could  imagine  strong  enough  to  keep  me  from 
returning.  Ole  Bull,  whom  I  very  much  wished  to  hear  again, 
was  to  play  the  next  evening ;  and  Parley  Pratt,  a  friend  whom 
I  had  not  met  for  a  great  length  of  time,  and  whom  I  did 
wish  to  see,  was  to  be  in  town  the  next  day.  There  were  many 
other  things  to  keep  me,  but  none  of  them  had  the  least  effect. 
I  could  no  more  keep  myself  there  than  a  man  could  sink  him- 
self in  the  Dead  Sea,  and  so  I  had  to  come  home. 

"  I  feel  a  strong  inclination  to  doze  and  slumber,  and  more 
and  more  in  these  slumbers  the  dim  shadows  that  appear  in  my 
waking  state  become  clearer,  and  my  conversation  is  more  real 
and  pleasant  to  me.  I  feel  a  double  consciousness  in  this  state, 
and  think,  '  Now,  is  not  this  real  ?  I  will  recollect  it  all,  what 
I  saw  and  what  I  said  '  ;  but  it  flies  and  is  lost  when  I  awake. 
I  call  this  sleeping,  but  sleep  it  is  not;  for  in  this 
state  I  am  more  awake  than  at  any  other  time." 

A  few  days  later,  on  June  5,  he  notes  that 

"  Although  my  meals  are  made  of  unleavened  bread  and  figs, 
and  my  drink  is  water,  and  I  eat  no  more  than  supports  my 
body,  yet  do  I  feel  sinfully  self-indulgent." 

He  resolves,  moreover,  to  trouble  himself  no  more  about  the 
fact  that  he  cannot  continue  his  studies.  On  this  subject,  and  on 
the  passivity  to  which  he  was  now  compelled,  he  had  written  as 
explicitly  as  he  could  to  his  friend  Brownson,  and  on  June  7  he 
received  a  response  which  had  such  an  immediate  result  upon  his 
future  that  we  transcribe  it  entire  : 

"ML  Bellingham,  June  6,  1844. — My  dear  Isaac:  I  thank 
you  for  your  letter,  and  the  frankness  with  which  you  speak  of 
your  present  interior  state.     You  ask  for  my  advice,  but  I  hardly 


146  The  Life  of  FatJicr  Hecker. 

know  what  advice  to  give.  There  is  much  in  your  present  state 
to  approve,  also  much  which  is  dangerous.  The  dreamy  luxury 
of  indulging  one's  thoughts  and  ranging  at  ease  through  the 
whole  spirit-world  is  so  captivating,  and  when  frequently  indulged 
in  acquires  such  power  over  us,  that  we  cease  to  be  free  men. 
The  power  to  control  your  thoughts  and  feelings  and  to  fix 
them  on  what  object  you  choose  is  of  the  last  necessity,  as  it  is 
the  highest  aim  of  spiritual  culture.  Be  careful  that  you  do  not 
mistake  a  mental  habit  into  which  you  have  fallen  for  the  guid- 
ance of  the  All-wise.  Is  it  not  the  very  sacrifice  you  are 
appointed  to  make,  to  overcome  this  spiritual  luxury  and  to 
become  able  to  do  that  which  is  disagreeable  ?  Where  is  the 
sacrifice  in  following  what  the  natural  tendencies  and  fixed  habits 
of  our  mind  dispose  us  to  do  ?  What  victory  have  you  acquired, 
what  power  to  conquer  in  the  struggle  for  sanctity  do  you 
possess,  when  you  cannot  so  far  control  your  thoughts  and  feel- 
ings as  to  be  able  to  apply  yourself  to  studies  which  you  feel 
are  necessary  ?  Here  is  your  warfare.  You  have  not  won  the 
victory  till  you  have  become  as  able  to  drudge  at  Latin  or  Greek 
as  to  give  up  worldly  wealth,  pleasures,  honors,  or  distinctions. 

"  But,  my  dear  Isaac,  you  cannot  gain  this  victory  alone,  nor 
by  mere  private  meditation  and  prayer.  You  can  obtain  it  only 
through  the  grace  of  God,  and  the  grace  of  God  only  through 
its  appointed  channels.  You  are  wrong.  You  do  not  begin 
right.  Do  you  really  believe  the  Gospel  ?  Do  you  really  believe 
the  Holy  Catholic  Church  ?  If  so,  you  must  put  yourself  under 
the  direction  of  the  Church.  I  have  commenced  my  preparations 
for  uniting  myself  with  the  Catholic  Church.  I  do  not  as  yet 
belong  to  the  family  of  Christ.  I  feel  it.  I  can  be  an  alien  no 
longer,  and  without  the  Church  I  know,  by  my  own  past  ex- 
perience, that  I  cannot  attain  to  purity  and  sanctity  of  life.  I 
need  the  counsels,  the  aids,  the  chastisements,  and  the  con- 
solations of  the  Church.  It  is  the  appointed  medium  of  salvation, 
and  how  can  we  hope  for  any  good  except  through  it  ?  Our 
first  business  is  to  submit  to  it,  that  we  may  receive  a  maternal 
blessing.      Then  we   may    start  fair. 

"  You  doubtless  feel  a  repugnance  to  joining  the  Church. 
But  we  ought  not  to  be  ashamed  of  Christ ;  and  the  Church 
opens  a  sphere  for  you,  and  you  especially.  You  are  not  to 
dream  your  life  away.  Your  devotion  must  be  regulated  and 
directed  by  the  discipline  of  the  Church.  You  know  that  there 
is  a  large  Roman  Catholic  population  in  our  country,  especially 
in  Wisconsin.  The  bishop  of  that  Territory  is  a  German.  Now, 
here  is  your  work — to  serve  this  German  population.  And  you 
can  do  it  without  feeling  yourself  among  foreigners.  Here  is  the 
cross  you  are  to  take  up.  Your  cross  is  to  resist  this  tendency 
to  mysticism,  to    sentimental    luxury,    which    is  really    enfeebling 


His  Life  at  Concord. 


147 


your  soul    and    preventing    you    from    attaining    to    true    spiritual 
blessedness. 

"  I  think  you  would  better  give  up  Greek,  but  command 
yourself  sufficiently  to  master  the  Latin  ;  that  you  need,  and 
cannot  do  without.  Get  the  Latin,  and  with  that  and  the  Eng- 
lish, French,  and  German  which  you  already  know,  you  can  get 
along  very  well.      But  don't  be  discouraged. 

"  I  want  you  to  come  and  see  our  good  bishop.  He  is  an 
excellent  man — learned,  polite,  easy,  affable,  affectionate,  and  ex- 
ceedingly warm-hearted.  I  spent  two  hours  with  him  immediately 
after  parting  with  you  in  Washington  Street,  and  a  couple  of 
hours  yesterday.      I  like  him  very  much. 

"  I  have  made  up  my  mind,  and  I  shall  enter  the  Church  if 
she  will  receive  me.  There  is  no  use  in  resisting.  You  cannot 
be  an  Anglican,  you  must  be  a  Catholic  or  a  mystic.  If  you 
enter  the  Church  at  all,  it  must  be  the  Catholic.  There  is 
nothing  else.  So  let  me  beg  you,  my  dear  Isaac,  to  begin  by 
owning  the  Church  and  receiving  her  blessing. 

"  My  health  is  very  good,  the  family  are  all  very  well ;  I 
hope  you  are  well.  Let  me  hear  from  you  often.  Forgive  me 
if  I  have  said  anything  harsh  or  unkind  in  this  letter,  for  all  is 
meant  in  kindness,  and  be  assured  of  my  sincere  and  earnest 
affection.  Yours  truly, 

"  O.    A.    Brownson." 


CHAPTER    XV. 

AT   THE    DOOR    OF   THE    CHURCH. 

THE  first  effect  of  Brownson's  letter  was  to  throw  its  recipient 
into  a  state  of  great  though  brief  perplexity.  That  final  strug- 
gle, strange  and  painful,  in  which  the  soul  for  the  last  time  con- 
tends against  its  happiness ;  in  which  it  is  drawn  by  an  invincible 
attraction,  knowing  that  it  will  yield  yet  striving  still  to  resist ;  is 
one  that  must  remain  but  half-comprehended  by  most  of  those  to 
whom  Catholic  truth  is  an  inheritance.  And  yet  there  is  an  ex- 
planation which  Father  Hecker  himself  would  possibly  have  given. 
"Do  you  know  what  God  is?"  he  said  to  the  present  writer  in 
1882,  in  that  abrupt  fashion  with  which  he  often  put  the  deepest 
questions.  "That  is  not  what  I  mean,"  he  went  on,  after  getting 
a  conventional  reply:  "  I'll  tell  you  what  God  is.  He  is  the  Eter- 
nal Lover  of  the  soul."  That  shudder  of  blind  aversion  which  is 
a  part  of  the  experience  of  so  many  converts,  is  an  instinctive 
testimony  that  the  call  to  the  truth  is  more  than  natural,  while 
the  overpowering  attraction  which  attends  it  witnesses  that  na- 
ture must  needs  obey  or  perish.  The  Church,  too,  is  not  heard 
by  the  soul  merely  as  the  collective  voice  of  many  men  and  ages 
of  men  agreed  upon  the  truth,  but  as  a  mystic  personality  which 
makes  her  the  imperative  ambassadress  of  Christ.  For  she  is 
the  Spouse  of  the  Lamb,  and  in  her  the  Incarnate  Word  obtains 
a  voice  which  is  no  less  single  in  its  personality  than  multitudi- 
nous in  its  tones. 

Much  as  Isaac  Hecker  had  considered  the  matter,  studying, 
reading,  praying,  assuring  himself  from  time  to  time  that  if  any 
church  were  true  this  was  the  one,  and  that  to  enter  it  was 
probably  his  duty,  now  that  Brownson's  weight  was  likewise 
thrown  into  the  scale  and  it  went  down  with  a  warning  thud,  he 
thrilled  through  with  apprehension.  "  I  feel  like  throwing  all 
up,"  he  wrote  in  the  diary  on  the  day  the  letter  reached  him. 
"Some  cannot  rest.  How  much  better  would  it  have  been  could 
I  have  remained  in  quietness  at  my  daily  pursuits,  and  not  been 
led  to    where  J  now  find  myself." 

Then  he  questions  himself:  "  What  have  I  against  the  Cath- 
olic Church  ?  At  this  moment  1  cannot  say  that  I  have  any- 
thing that  is  essential.      And  she  meets  my  wants    on  every  side. 

"  Oh,   this    is    the    deepest  event  of   my  life !       I    would  have 


At  the  Door  of  the   Church.  149 


united  myself  to  any  one  of  the  Protestant  sects  if  I  had  found 
any  that  would  have  answered  the  demands  of  my  nature.  Why 
should  I  now  hesitate  when  I  find  the  Catholic  Church  will  do 
so  ?  Is  not  this  the  self-will  which  revolts  against  the  involun- 
tary will  of  the  Spirit  ? 

"  The  fundamental  question  is,  Am  I  willing  to  submit  my 
will  to  the  guidance  and  direction  of  the  Church?  If  she  is  the 
body  of  Christ;  if  she  is  the  channel  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  if 
she  is  the  inspired  body  illumined  by  Christ's  Spirit ;  in  a  word, 
if  she  is  the  Catholic  Church  ;  if  I  would  serve  God  and  human- 
ity ;  if  I  would  secure  the  favor  of  God,  and  heaven  hereafter ; 
why  should  I  not  submit  to  her  ?" 

But  however  painful  this  final  indecision  may  have  been,  it  was 
of  short  duration.  Brownson's  letter  reached  Concord  on  Friday 
morning,  and  on  Saturday  Isaac  Hecker  went  into  Boston  to  see 
Bishop  Fenwick  and  put  himself  under  instruction.  That  done, 
his  peace  not  merely  returned,  but  he  felt  that  it  rested  on  more 
solid  grounds  than  heretofore.  Yet,  curiously  enough,  it  is  at 
this  point  we  come  upon  almost  the  first  trace  of  his  stopping 
seriously  to  consider  the  adverse  sentiments  of  others  with  regard 
to  any  proposed  action  on  his  part.  Now  that  he  means  to  range 
himself,  he  turns  to  look  back  at  the  disorderly  host  which  he  is 
quitting,  not  so  much,  or  at  least  not  primarily,  for  the  sake  of  the 
order  and  regularity  and  solidity  of  that  to  which  it  is  opposed, 
but  because  a  true  instinct  has  taught  him  that  unity  is  the  exter- 
nal mark  of  truth,  as  equilibrium  is  the  test  of  a  just  balance. 
In  his  diary  of  June  11,  1844,  after  recording  that  he  has  just 
returned  from  Boston,  where  he  has  seen  the  bishop  and  his  coad- 
jutor, Bishop  John  Bernard  Fitzpatrick,  and  received  from  the 
latter  a  note  of  introduction  to  the  president  of  Holy  Cross  Col- 
lege, at  Worcester,   Mass.,  he    adds: 

"  I  intend  to  stay  there  as  long  as  it  seems  pleasant  to  me,  and 
then  go  on  to  New  York  and  there  unite  myself  with  the  Church. 

"  I  sigh,  and  feel  that  this  step  is  the  most  important  of  my 
life.  My  highest  convictions,  my  deepest  wants,  lead  me  to  it  ; 
and  should  I  not  obey  them?  There  is  no  room  to  harbor  a 
doubt  about  it.  My  friends  will  look  upon  it  with  astonishment, 
and  probably  use  the  common  epithets,  delusion,  fanaticism,  and 
blindness.  But  so  I  wish  to  appear  to  minds  like  theirs  ;  other- 
wise this  would   be    unsatisfactory  to    me.      Men    call  that  super- 


150  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

stition  which  they  have  not  the  feeling  to  appreciate,  and  that 
fanaticism  which  they  have  not  the  spiritual  perception  to  per- 
ceive. The  Protestant  world  admires,  extols,  and  flatters  him  who 
will  write  and  speak  high-sounding  and  heroic  words ;  who  will 
assert  that  he  will  follow  truth  wherever  it  leads,  at  all  sacrifices 
and  hazards  ;  but  no  sooner  does  he  do  so  than  it  slanders  and 
persecutes  him  for  being  what  he  professed  to  be.  Verily  it 
has  separated  faith  from  works. 

"  This  is  a  heavy  task  ;  it  is  a  great  undertaking,  a  serious, 
sacred,  sincere,  and  solemn  step  ;  it  is  the  most  vital  and  eternal 
act,  and  as  such  do  I  feel  it  in  all  its  importance,  weight,  and 
power.  O  God  !  Thou  who  hast  led  me  by  Thy  heavenly  mes- 
sengers, by  Thy  divine  grace,  to  make  this  new,  unforeseen,  and 
religious  act  of  duty,  support  me  in  the  day  of  trial.  Support 
me,  O  Lord,  in  my  confessions  ;  give  me  strength  and  purity  to 
speak  freely  the  whole  truth  without  any  equivocation  or  attempt 
at  justification.  O  Lord,  help  Thy  servant  when  he  is  feeble  and 
would  fall. 

"  One  thing  that  gives  me  much  peace  and  joy  is  that  all 
worldly  inducements,  all  temptations  toward  self- gratification  what- 
ever, are  in  favor  of  the  Anglican  Church  and  in  opposition  to 
the  Catholic  Church.  And  on  this  account  my  conscience  feels 
free  from  any  unworthy  motive  in  joining  it.  The  Roman  Cath- 
olic Church  is  the  most  despised,  the  poorest,  and,  according  to 
the  world,  the  least  respectable  of  any;  this  on  account  of  the 
class  of  foreigners  of  which  it  is  chiefly  composed  in  this  country. 
In  this  respect  it  presents  to  me  no  difficulty  of  any  sort,  nor 
demands  the  least  sacrifice.  But  the  new  relations  in  which  it  will 
place  me,  and  the  new  duties  which  will  be  required  of  me,  are 
strange  to  me,  and  hence  I  shall   feel  all  their  weight  at  once." 

His  premonitions  were  speedily  fulfilled,  though  probably  not 
in  the  extreme  form  which  he  anticipated.  The  spirit  of  courtesy 
which  prevailed  throughout  his  family  doubtless  prevented  any  but 
the  mildest  criticism  on  his  action.  But  even  that  had  hitherto 
been  spared  him.  There  had  been  anxiety  and  much  questioning 
about  his  final  course,  but  that  it  would  end  in  this  way  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  seriously  apprehended.  On  the  same  day  on 
which  he  made  the  entry  just  quoted  he  wrote  the  following 
letter  to    them  : 

"June   11,    1844. — On  Saturday  last   I   went    into  Boston    and 


At  the  Door  of  tlic  Church.  151 


did  not  return  until  this  morning  (Tuesday).  .  .  .  My  pur- 
pose In  going  was  to  see  Bishop  Fenwick  of  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic Church,  to  learn  what  are  the  preliminaries  necessary  for 
one  who  wishes  to  be  united  to  the  Church.  I  saw  the  bishop 
and  his  coadjutor,  men  of  remarkable  goodness,  candor,  and 
frankness.  I  was  chiefly  interested  with  his  coadjutor,  and  spent 
some  hours  with  him  on  Monday.  And  this  is  the  result  to 
which  I  have  come :  That  soon,  probably  next  week,  I  shall  go 
from  here  to  Worcester,  where  there  is  a  Catholic  college,  and 
stay  there  for  a  few  days,  perhaps  a  fortnight,  to  see  the  place, 
become  acquainted  with  their  practical  religious  life  and  their 
system  of  intellectual  instruction.  From  there  I  shall  go  on 
home  to  New  York,  and,  after  having  gone  through  the  requisite 
preliminaries,  be  united  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  our 
city.  .  .  .  Before  I  make  any  unalterable  step,  I  wish  to  see 
you  all  and  commune  with  you  concerning  this  movement  on 
my  part. 

"Whatever  theories  and  speculations  may  be  indulged  in  and 
cherished  by  those  opposed  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  their 
influence,  however  important  they  may  seem,  is  not  sufficiently 
vital  to  prevent  me  from  being  united  to  it.  It  satisfies  and 
meets  my  deepest  wants  ;  and  on  this  ground,  setting  aside  any 
other  for  the  moment,  I  feel  like  affirming,  in  the  spirit  of  the 
man  whom  Christ  made  to  see,*  I  know  not  whether  this  Church 
be  or  be  not  what  certain  men  call  it,  but  this  I  know  :  it  has 
the  life  my  heart  is  thirsting  for,  and  of  which  my  spirit  is  in 
great  need. 

"  A  case  in  point :  The  sermon  of  Dr.  Seabury  on  the  la- 
mented death  of  Arthur  Carey  is  as  far  from  satisfying  my  heart 
felt  longings  as  Platonism  would  be  to  the  Christian.  Read  the 
doctrine  of  the  Catholic  Church  on  the  Communion  of  Saints  in 
the  Catechism  of  the  Council  of  Trent  attentively  and  devoutly, 
and  you  will  see  and  feel  the  wide  difference  in  doctrine  and  life 
between  it  and  that  held  even  by  the  high-church  Anglican. 
It  may  be  said  in  excuse  for  Dr.  Seabury,  that  he  has  to  be 
prudent  and  cautious  on  account  of  the  state  of  mind  of  those 
whom  he  has  to  speak  to.  Well  enough  ;  but  why  should  one 
go  to  a  weak  and  almost  dried-up  spring  when  there  is  one 
equally    near,    fresh,     always    flowing    and    full    of    life  ?     .     .     . 

*  John  ix.  24  :  We  know  this  man  is  a  sinner.  He  said  therefore  to  them  ;  If  he  be  a 
sinner,  I  know  not ;  one  thing  I  know,  that  whereas  I  was  blind,  now  I  see. 


152  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


There  may  be  those,  and  I  do  not  question  there  are  many  such 
good  persons,  who  do  not  feel  the  deep  demands  of  the  spir- 
itual nature  as  profoundly  as  others  do,  and  that  the  Anglican 
Church  fully  satisfies  all  their  needs.  But  even  in  her  bosom 
there  are  many  who  think  that  if  the  Oxford  tendencies  are 
Anglican,  she  is  very  idolatrous  and  exceedingly  superstitious, 
because  they  feel  no  need  for  so  much  discipline  and  ceremony, 
and  such  faith  in  the  invisible.  .  .  .  All  reasons  that  can 
tempt  one  in  my  position  are  in  favor  of  the  Anglican  Church, 
and  it  is  a  source  of  much  joy  that  there  is  no  conceivable  in- 
ducement of  a  worldly  or  mixed  nature  for  me  to  join  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  If  there  were  I  should  distrust  myself.  . 
It  seems  to  me  that  the  difference  between  my  embracing  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  and  any  other  is  the  same  as  the  differ- 
ence between  remaining  as  I  am,  and  selling  all  that  I  have  and 
following  Christ." 


't> 


His  deference  for  his  friends'  opinions,  though  he  made  their 
views  no  condition  of  his  action,  is  beautifully  shown  by  the  fol- 
lowing words:  "John,  and  all  who  feel  like  giving  me  advice,  you 
will  not  hesitate  in  giving  it  freely  and  frankly.  There  are  many 
reasons  for  my  present  course ;  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  put  them 
all  on  paper.  But  when  I  return  home  and  meet  you  all  again, 
we  will  in  love  speak  of  this  in  common  communion  :  until  then 
I  will  not  take  any  decisive  step.  I  suppose  you  feel  as  little 
inclined  to  speak  to  others  of  the  decision  I  have  come  to  as  I 
do    to  have  it    prematurely  known." 

To  the  brother  whose  heart  was  most  his  own  he  devotes  the 
concluding  words  of  the  letter : 

"What  is  brother  George's  mind  respecting  the  need  of  receiv- 
ing this  diviner  life  in  order  to  bring  us  into  a  closer  commu- 
nion with  God  and  make  us  inhabitants  of  heaven  ?  George, 
shall  we  go  arm-in-arm  in  our  heavenly  journey  as  we  have 
done   in   our  earthly  one  ?" 

While  awaiting  an  answc  to  this  letter  he  began  another,  in 
which  he  summarizes  more  explicitly  such  of  his  reasons  for  be- 
coming a  Catholic  as  might  appeal  on  ordinary  grounds  of  con- 
troversy to  his  mother  and  his  brother  John,  the  latter  of  whom 
had    recently    become    an     Kpiscopalian.      Our    extracts,   however. 


At  the  Door  of  the  Church.  153 


will  be  made   from  the  passages   more    strictly  personal    and    cha- 
racteristic : 

"  Concord,  June  14,  M844. — Until  I  hear  from  you  I  cannot 
say  how  you  may  view  my  resolution  or  feel  regarding  the  deci- 
sion I  have  come  to,  and  therefore  I  am  at  a  loss  what  to  say 
to  you  respecting  it.  One  thing  must  strike  you  as  inexplicable  : 
that  I  relinquish  my  studies  here  so  suddenly.  This  arises  from 
the  fact  that  I  have  not  kept  you  perfectly  informed  concerning 
the  change  my  mind  has  for  some  time  been  undergoing  with 
regard  to  the  object  and  end  of  study,  its  office  and  its  benefits. 
I  kept  silent,  thinking  that  my  views  might  be  but  temporary, 
and  that  it  was  unnecessary  to  trouble  you  with  them.  My 
simple  faith  is,  in  a  few  words,  that  we  must  first  seek  the 
kingdom  of  God,  and  then  all  necessary  things  will  be  given  us. 
And  this  kingdom  is  not  found  through  nature,  philosophy, 
science,  art,  or  by  any  other  method  than  that  of  the  Gospel  : 
the   perfect   surrender  of  the    whole  heart  to   God." 

We  stop  here  to  remark  that  such  expressions  as  these  are 
neither  to  be  taken  as  evidences  of  a  passing  disgust  for  the 
drudgery  of  text-book  tasks,  nor  as  signs  of  an  indolent  dispo- 
sition. They  are  the  assertion  of  a  principle  which  Father  Hecker 
maintained  throughout  his  life.  He  never  felt  the  least  interest 
in  studies  not  undertaken  as  a  result  of  some  supernatural  impulse, 
or  pursued  in  view  of  some  supernatural  aim.  He  looked  with 
the  coldest  unconcern  upon  such  investigations  of  science  as  pro- 
mise nothing  toward  solving  the  problems  which  perplex  human- 
ity on  the  moral  side,  or  which  do  not  contribute  to  the  natural 
well  being  of  men.  With  the  pursuit  of  any  science  which  does 
promise  such  results  he  was  in  the  fullest  sympathy,  and  was 
himself  an  unwearied  student.  It  was  anything  but  intellectual 
indolence  which  caused  him  to  put  away  his  books.  He  was 
naturally  of  a  busy  temperament  :  if  men  who  knew  him  but 
slightly  might  think  him  visionary,  no  man  could  know  him  at 
all  and  consider  him  a  sluggard.  We  shall  see  in  the  sequel 
how,  under  extremely  critical  circumstances,  the  assertion  of  this 
principle  was  wrung  from  him  by  the  constraining  force  of  his 
interior  guide.  Much  of  what  follows  illustrates  this  trait  of 
character. 

The  letter  last  quoted   from   had  not  yet  been  sent  when  the 


154  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


answer  to  his  announcement  of  June  i  I  reached  him,  and  he 
added  a  postscript.  The  only  point  in  it  to  which  he  alludes  or 
makes  any  direct  reply  is  the  gentle  expression  of  his  mother's 
disapprobation  of  his  purpose  : 

"  Your  letter  and  draft,  brother  George,  came  this  morning. 
You  say  mother  would  prefer  my  joining  the  Anglican  Church. 
The  reasons  why  she  prefers  this  are  such  as  would  doubtless 
govern  me  if  I  did  not  feel  still  deeper  and  stronger  reasons  to 
overcome  them.  .  .  .  My  present  convictions  are  deeper  far 
than  any  I  have  ever  experienced,  and  are  not  hastily  decided 
upon." 

Turning  now  to  the  diary,  the  entries  made  at  this  time  seem 
especially  characteristic  : 

"June  13,  1844. — I  feel  very  cheerful  and  at  ease  since  I 
have  consented  to  join  the  Catholic  Church.  Never  have  I  felt 
the  quietness,  the  immovableness,  and  the  permanent  rest  that 
I  do  now.  It  is  inexpressible.  I  feel  that  essential  and  interior 
permanence  which  nothing  exterior  can  disturb,  and  no  act  which 
it  calls  on  me  to  perform  will  move  in  the  least.  It  is  with  a 
perfect  ease  and  gracefulness  that  I  never  dreamed  of,  that  I 
shall  unite  with  the  Church.  It  will  not  change  but  fix  my  life. 
No  external  relations,  events,  or  objects  can  disturb  this  un- 
reachable quietness  or  break  the  deep  repose  in  which  I  am. 

"  The  exoteric  eye  is  double  ;  the  esoteric  eye  is  single. 

"  The  external  world  is  divisional ;  the  internal  world  is 
unity. 

"  The  esoteric  includes  the  exoteric,  but  the  exoteric  excludes 
the  esoteric. 

"  The  man  can  move  all  faculties,  organs,  limbs ;  but  they 
cannot  move  the  man. 

"The  Creator  moves  the  creature,  and  the  creature  moves 
the  created. 

"We  know  God  by  looking  towards  Him  with  the  single  eye. 

"To-morrow  I  go  with  R.  W.  Emerson  to  Harvard  to  see 
Lane  and  Alcott,  and  shall  stay  until  Sunday.  We  shall  not 
meet  each  other,  for  I  can  meet  him  on  no  other  grounds  than 
those  of  love.  We  may  talk  intellectually  together,  and  remark, 
and  reply,  and  remark  again." 


At  the  Door  of  the   Church.  155 

We  give  the  reader  from  the  diary  the  following  estimate  of 
a  transcendentalist,  mainly  to  serve  as  a  background  for  the  picture 
which  Isaac  Hecker  drew  of  his  own  mind  in  the  succeeding  pages  : 

"June  14. — A  transcendentalist  is  one  who  has  keen  sight 
but  little  warmth  of  heart ;  who  has  fine  conceits  but  is  destitute 
of  the  rich  glow  of  love.  He  is  en  rapport  with  the  spiritual 
world,  unconscious  of  the  celestial  one.  He  is  all  nerve  and 
no  blood — colorless.  He  talks  of  self-reliance,  but  fears  to  trust 
himself  to  love.  He  never  abandons  himself  to  love,  but  is  al- 
ways on  the  lookout  for  some  new  fact.  His  nerves  are  always 
tight-stretched,  like  the  string  of  a  bow ;  his  life  is  all  effort.  In 
a  short  period  he  loses  his  tone.  Behold  him  sitting  on  a  chair; 
he  is  not  sitting,  but  braced  upon  its  angles,  as  if  his  bones  were 
of  iron  and  his  nerves  steel  ;  every  nerve  is  drawn,  his  hands  are 
closed  like  a  miser's — it  is  his  lips  and  head  that  speak,  not  his 
tongue  and  heart.  He  prefers  talking  about  love  to  possessing  it, 
as  he  prefers  Socrates  to  Jesus.  Nature  is  his  church,  and  he  is 
his  own  god.  He  is  a  dissecting  critic — heartless,  cold.  What 
would  excite  love  and  sympathy  in  another,  excites  in  him  curi 
osity  and  interest.  He  would  have  written  an  essay  on  the  power 
of  the  soul  at  the  foot  of  the  Cross.     .     .     . 

"That  the  shaping  of  events  is  not  wholly  in  our  own  hands 
my  present  unanticipated  movement  has  clearly  demonstrated  to 
me.  ...  I  know  of  no  act  that  I  could  make  which  would 
have  more  influence  to  shape  my  destiny  than  my  union  with 
the  Catholic  Church.  ...  It  is  very  certain  to  me  that  my  life 
is  now  as  it  never  has  been.  It  seems  that  I  live,  feel,  and  act 
from  my  heart.  That  reads,  talks,  hears,  sees,  smells,  and  all.  All 
is  unity  with  me,  all  love.  Instead  of  exciting  thoughts  and 
ideas,  as  all  things  have  done  heretofore,  they  now  excite  love, 
cheerful  emotion,  and  gladness  of  heart. 

"  To  the  Spirit  within  I  address  myself:  So  long  as  I  struggled 
against  Thee  I  had  pain,  sorrow,  anguish,  doubt,  weeping,  and 
distress  of  soul.  Again  and  again  have  I  submitted  to  Thee, 
though  ever  reluctantly ;  yet  was  it  always  in  the  end  for  my 
good.  Oh  !  how  full  of  love  and  goodness  art  Thou  to  suffer  in 
us  and  for  us,  that  we  may  be  benefited  and  made  happy.  It 
is  from  Thy  own  pure  love  for  us,  for  Thy  happiness  cannot  be 
increased  or  diminished,  that  Thou  takest  upon  Thee  all  the  suf- 
fering of  the  children. 


156 


The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 


"  Lord,  if  I  would  or  could  give  myself  wholly  up  to  Thee, 
nothing  but  pure  joy,  complete  happiness,  and  exquisite  pleasure 
would  fill  all  my  spirit,  soul,  and  body.  The  Lord  desires  our 
whole  happiness ;  it  is  we  who  hinder  Him  from  causing  it  by  our 
struggles  against  His  love-working  Spirit. 

"  Who  is  the  Lord  ?  Is  He  not  our  nearest  friend  ?  Is  any 
closer  to  us  than  He  when  we  are  good  ?  Is  any  further  from  us 
when  we  are  wicked  ?  His  simple  presence  is  blessedness.  Our 
marriage  with  the  Lord  should  be  so  complete  that  nothing  could 
attract  our  attention  from   Him. 

"  We  shall  speak  best  to  men  when  we  do  not  reflect  on  whom 
we  are  talking  to.  Speak  always  as  if  in  the  presence  of  God, 
where  you  must  be  if  you  would  speak  to  benefit  your  neighbor. 

"  If  we  are  pure  before  God  the  eyes  of  men  will  never  make 
us  ashamed. 

"  We  must  be  Iflind  to  all  things  and  have  our  single  eye 
turned  toward  God  when  we  would  act  in  any  manner  upon 
earth — when  we   would    heavenize    it." 

Here  ends  the  contemporary  record  of  his  life  in  Concord. 
The  next  letters  are  dated  at  Worcester ;  the  next  entry  in  the 
diary  at  New  York.  There  remain,  however,  some  interesting 
allusions  to  it  in  the  articles  in  this  magazine  of  1887  concerning 
Dr.  Brownson,  and  some  conversations,  still  more  graphic,  in  the 
pages  of  the  memoranda. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

AT   THE    DOOR    OF   THE    CHURCH. — CONTINUED. 

THE  first  Bishop  of  Boston,  John  Louis  de  Cheverus,  who  left 
that  diocese  to  become  successively  the  Bishop  of  Montau- 
ban  and  the  Cardinal-Archbishop  of  Bordeaux,  was,  in  the  strict- 
est sense,  a  missionary  during;  his  American  episcopate.  Thor- 
oughly French  in  blood,  in  training,  in  manners,  and  in  zeal,  his 
penetrating  intelligence  not  less  than  his  saintly  life  and  his 
tireless  charity  recommended  him  to  men  of  all  creeds  and  of 
none.  His  departure  from  Boston  was  regarded  by  all  its  citi- 
zens as  a  public  misfortune,  and  by  himself  as  cause  for  profound 
personal  sorrow.  He  had  learned  there  a  lesson  of  liberty  which 
he  found  it  hard  to  forget  when  he  went  away.  One  of  his 
biographers  records  that  Charles  X.,  whose  offer  to  make  him 
Minister  of  Ecclesiastical  Affairs  Cheverus  had  declined,  once 
questioned  him  concerning  the  liberty  enjoyed  by  the  Church  in 
the  United  States.  "  There,"  said  the  archbishop  in  reply,  "  I 
could  have  established  missions  in  every  church,  founded  semi- 
naries in  every  quarter,  and  confided  them  to  the  care  of  Jesuits 
without  any  one  thinking  or  saying  aught  against  my  proceed- 
ings ;  all  opposition  to  them  would  have  been  regarded  as  an 
act  of  despotism  and  a  violation  of  right."  "That  people  un- 
derstand liberty,  at  least,"  returned  the  king;  "when  will  it  be 
understood  among  us?" 

We  have  spoken  of  Bishop  Cheverus  because,  at  the  time  of 
Isaac  Hecker's  acquaintance  with  his  successors,  his  influence 
was  still  felt  in  Boston. 

His  immediate  successor  was  Benedict  Joseph  Fenwick,  a 
Marylander,  descended  in  direct  line  from  one  of  the  original 
English  Catholic  pilgrims  who  founded  that  colony  under  Lord 
Baltimore.  During  his  episcopate  the  diocese  grew  amazingly. 
When  he  went  to  it,  in  1826,  although  it  comprised  the  whole 
of  New  England,  it  contained  but  two  churches  fit  for  divine 
service,  and  only  two  priests  besides  himself.  When  he  died,  in 
1846,  he  left  behind  him  two  bishoprics  where  there  had  been 
but  one ;  while  in  that  of  Boston  alone  there  were  then  fifty 
churches,  served  by  as  many  priests.  Although  conversions  had 
not  been  rare,  the  increase  was  mainly  due  to  immigration, 
which  the  great  famine  in  Ireland  was  speedily  to  increase.     The 


157 


158  The  Life  of  FatJicr  Hecker. 

efforts  of  Bishop  Fenwick  and  those  of  his  coadjutor  and  succes- 
sor were,  in  the  nature  of  things,  conservative  rather  than  ag- 
gressive. 

Bishop  Fitzpatrick,  also,  was  American  by  birth  and  training. 
A  native  of  Boston,  he  was  reared  in  its  public  grammar  and 
Latin  schools  until  the  age  of  seventeen,  when  he  began  hi^ 
studies  for  the  priesthood,  which  he  finished  in  France.  Both  of 
these  prelates  continued  the  tradition  of  Cheverus  so  far  as  their 
own  persons  were  concerned.  But  while  they  easily  won  and  re- 
tained the  respect  of  their  more  intelligent  Protestant  fellow-citi- 
zens, the  confidence  they  inspired  as  men  was  not  ample  enough 
to  protect  the  Church  over  which  they  ruled  when  once  it  be- 
gan to  show  signs  of  solid  prosperity.  Cheverus  was  not  wrong 
in  counting  with  assurance  upon  American  love  for  and  under- 
standing of  true  liberty,  but  he  doubtless  owed  more  than  he 
thought  at  the  time  to  the  insignificance  and  scanty  numbers  of 
his  flock.  There  came  a  period,  even  in  the  career  of  his  im- 
mediate successor,  when  liberty  itself  seemed  but  a  feeble  sap- 
ling which  a  strong  wind  of  stupid  bigotry  might  avail  to  root 
out  and  cast  away  ;  while  the  chronicle  of  Bishop  Fitzpatrick  s 
episcopate  contains  the  record  of  convents  invaded  under  forms 
of  law,  and  of  both  convents  and  churches  sacked  and  burned 
by  "  Native  American"  mobs,  who  were  secure  of  their  immunity 
from  punishment.  Such  outrages,  witnessed  by  the  second  and 
third  Bishops  of  Boston,  and  the  incessant  conflict  to  which  they 
were  compelled  with  the  bigotry  which  caused  them  and  which 
protected  their  perpetrators,  predisposed  both  them  and  their 
clergy  to  a  distrustful  attitude  toward  converts  like  Brownson  and 
Hecker,  in  whom  American  traits  of  character  were  very  con- 
spicuous. Dr.  Brownson  has  recorded  in  The  Convert,  p.  374, 
the  fact  that  his  entrance  into  the  Church  was  delayed  for 
months  by  his  fear  of  explaining  to  Bishop  Fitzpatrick  the 
precise    road    by    which    he    had    approached    it.       He    says : 

"I  really  thought  that  I  had  made  some  philosophical  dis- 
coveries which  would  be  of  value  even  to  Catholic  theologians 
in  convincing  and  converting  unbelievers,  and  I  dreaded  to 
have  them  rejected  by  the  Catholic  bishop.  But  I  perceived 
almost  instantly  that  he  either  was  ignorant  of  my  doctrine 
of  life  or  placed  no  confidence  in  it ;  and  I  felt  that  he  was 
far  more  likely,  bred  as  he  had  been  in  a  different  philo- 
sophical school    from    myself,    to   oppose   than  to  accept.       T  had, 


At  the  Door  of  the  Church.  159 

indeed,  however  highly  I  esteemed  the  doctrine,  no  special  at- 
tachment to  it  for  its  own  sake,  and  could,  so  far  as  it  was 
concerned,  give  it  up  at  a  word  without  a  single  regret;  but,  if 
I  rejected  or  waived  it,  what  reason  had  I  for  regarding  the 
Church  as  authoritative  for  natural  reason,  or  for  recognizing 
any  authority  in  the  bishop  himself  to  teach  me?  Here  was 
the  difficulty.  .  .  .  My  trouble  was  great,  and  the  bishop 
could   not  relieve  me,   for  I   dared   not  disclose  to  him  its  source." 

The  reader  will  understand  that  we  do  not  compare  the 
course  of  Bishop  Fitzpatrick  in  Brownson's  case  with  that  taken 
by  him  toward  Isaac  Hecker.  The  latter  was  a  young  man, 
unknown  to  the  bishop  save  by  what  he  may  have  said  of  his 
own  antecedents,  while  Brownson  was  a  well-known  publicist, 
concerning  whom  some  reserve  was  natural  and  prudent. 

With  Bishop  Fenwick,  who  was  already  in  failing  health, 
the  new  candidate  for  admission  to  the  fold  seems  to  have  had 
very  little  intercourse.  As  we  have  seen,  the  journal  makes 
only  a  passing  reference  to  him,  but  is  more  explicit  with 
regard  to  his  coadjutor.  Certain  points  in  their  interview 
which  remained  ever  fresh  in  his  memory  were,  at  the  time, 
cast  into  the  shade  by  his  deep  preoccupation  with  what  maw 
perhaps,  be  called  the  spiritual  as  distinguished  from  the  intel- 
lectual side  of  the  Church.  That  in  her  which  makes  her  the 
tender  and  bountiful  mother  of  the  simple  was  what  chiefly 
attracted  him,  just  as  others  are  mainly  drawn  to  her  as  the 
adequate  teacher  and  guide  of  the  intellect.  If  he  found  the 
door  at  which  he  was  knocking  something  hard  in  turning  on 
its  hinges ;  if  the  vestibule  into  which  he  was  ushered  seemed 
a  trifle  narrower  than  he  had  expected  at  the  entrance  of  a 
temple  so  world-wide;  his  satisfaction  at  having  determined 
upon  entrance  made  all  other  considerations  for  the  moment 
dwindle.  But  that  the  impressions  he  received  were  perma- 
nent, in  their  suggestiveness  at  least,  is  witnessed  by  an  article 
in  this  magazine  for  April,  1887,  entitled  "Dr.  Brownson  and 
Bishop  Fitzpatrick,"  as  well  as  by  the  several  references  to 
this  period  which  occur  in  the  memoranda. 

In  the  article  just  named  Father  Hecker  threw  into  a  para- 
graph or  two,  which  we  subjoin,  the  substance  of  his  first,  and 
perhaps  at  this  time  his  only,   interview  with   Bishop   Fitzpatrick  : 

"  It  was  always  difficult    to    detect   how    much    of    conviction 


160  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


and  how  much  of  banter  there  was  in  his  treatment  of  men 
engaged  in  the  actual  intellectual  movement  of  our  times.  I 
found  such  to  be  the  case  in  my  own  intercourse  with  him.  He 
always  attacked  me  in  a  bantering  way,  but,  I  thought,  half  in 
earnest  too.  Hence  I  never  found  it  advisable  to  enter  into 
argument  with  him.  How  can  you  argue  with  a  man,  a  brilliant 
wit  and  an  accomplished  theologian,  who  continually  flashes  back 
and  forth  between  first  principles  and  witticisms  ?  When  I  would 
undertake  to  grapple  with  him  on  first  principles  he  would  throw 
me  off  with  a  joke,  and  while  I  was  parrying  the  joke  he  was 
back  again  upon  first  principles. 

"  An  illustration  of  his  way  of  treating  men  and  questions 
was  his  reception  of  me  when  I  presented  myself  to  him,  some 
months  before  Dr.  Brownson  did,  for  reception  into  the  Church. 
'What  truths  were  the  stepping-stones  that  led  you  here?'  he 
would  have  asked  if  he  had  had  the  temperament  of  the  apostle. 
But  instead  of  searching  for  truth  in  me  he  began  to  search  for 
error.  I  had  lived  with  the  Brook  Farm  Community  and  with  the 
Fruitlands  Community,  and  before  that  had  been  a  member  of  a 
Workingman's  party  in  New  York  City,  in  all  which  organizations 
the  right  of  private  ownership  of  property  had  been  a  prime 
question.  .  .  .  But,  as  for  my  part,  at  the  time  Bishop 
Fitzpatrick  wanted  me  to  purge  myself  of  communism,  I  had 
settled  the  question  in  my  own  mind,  and  on  principles  which 
I  afterwards  found  to  be  Catholic.  The  study  and  settlement  of 
the  question  of  ownership  was  one  of  the  things  that  led  me 
into  the  Church,  and  I  am  not  a  little  surprised  that  what  was 
a  door  to  lead  me  into  the  Church  seems  at  this  day  to  be  a 
door  to  lead  some  others  out.  But  when  the  bishop  attacked  me 
about  it,  it  was  no  longer  with  me  an  actual  question.  I  had 
settled  the  question  of  private  ownership  in  harmony  with  Cath- 
olic principles,  or  I  should  not  have  dared  to  present  myself  as 
a  convert.  But  I  mention  this  because  it  illustrates  Bishop 
Fitzpatrick's  character. 

"  His  was,  indeed,  a  first-class  mind  both  in  natural  gifts  and 
acquired  cultivation,  but  his  habitual  bearing  was  that  of  sus- 
picion of  error ;  as  man  and  prelate  he  had  a  joyful  readiness 
to  search  it  out  and  correct  it  from  his  own  point  of  view.  He 
was  a  type  of  mind  common  then  and  not  uncommon  now — the 
embodiment  of  a  purpose  to  refute  error,  and  to  refute  it  by 
condemnation    direct,    authoritative    even    if  argumentative  :     the 


At  the  Door  of  the  Church.  161 

other  type  of  mind  would  seek  for  truth  amidst  the  error,  esta- 
blish its  existence,  applaud  it,  and  endeavor  to  make  it  a  basis 
for  further  truth  and  a  fulcrum  for  the  overthrow  of  the  error 
connected  with  it. 

"It  will  be  seen,  then,  what  kind  of  man  Dr.  Brownson  first 
met  as  the  official  exponent  of  Catholicity,  one  hardly  capable 
of  properly  understanding"  and  dealing  with  a  mind  like  his  ;  for 
he  was  one  who  had  come  into  the  possession  of  the  full  truth 
not  so  much  from  hatred  of  error  as  from  love  of  truth.  Brown- 
son's  soul  was  intensely  faithful  to  its  personal  convictions,  faithful 
unto  heroism — for  that  is  the  temper  of  men  who  seek  the  whole 
truth  free  from  cowardice,  or  narrowness,  or  bias.  He  has  ad- 
mitted that  the  effect  of  his  intercourse  with  the  bishop  was  not 
fortunate.  He  confesses  that  he  forced  him  to  adopt  a  line  of 
public  controversy  foreign  to  his  genius,  and  one  which  had  not 
brought  him  into  the  Church,  and  perhaps  could  not  have  done 
so." 

The  memoranda  contain  a  more  familiar  account  of  this  inter- 
view : 

"  I  presented  myself  for  instruction  and  reception  into  the 
Church  at  the  episcopal  residence,  and  was  received  by  the  old 
bishop,  Fenwick.  He  questioned  me  on  the  essential  doctrines 
and  found  me  as  I  was ;  that  is,  firm  as  a  rock  and  perfectly  clear 
in  my  belief.  Then  he  said,  '  You  had  better  see  Bishop  John.' 
I  did  so.  He  tried  to  get  me  started  on  questions  of  modern 
theology  such  as  he  suspected  I  might  be  (as  he  would  doubtless 
think,  knowing  my  antecedents)  unsound  on  ;  for  example,  rights 
of  property,  etc.  I  refused  to  speak  my  sentiments  on  them. 
I  said  I  had  no  difficulties  about  anything  to  submit  to  him.  I 
knew  the  Catholic  faith  and  wished  to  be  received  into  the 
Church  at  once.  I  had  come  seeking  the  means  to  save  my 
soul,  and  I  wanted  nothing  from  him  but  to  be  prepared  for 
baptism." 

More  interesting  than  either  of  these  narrations  is  the  follow- 
ing conversation,  recorded  on  July  4,  1884.  Besides  furnishing 
a  very  explicit  answer  to  a  question  which  may  occur  to  some 
minds,  as  to  why  a  man  who  always  took  such  a  hopeful  view 
of  human  nature  as  Isaac  Hecker  did,  should  not  have  been 
repelled  from  Catholicity  by  the  doctrine  of  original  sin,   it    adds 


162  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

some    further    particulars    to    the    meagre    array    of   facts    in  our 
possession  : 

"  Suppose,"  he  was  asked,  "  that  the  deliverances  of  the 
Council  of  Trent  on  original  sin,  and  the  theories  of  Bellarmine 
on  that  doctrine,  had  been  offered  you  during  your  transition 
period  :    what  would  you  have  thought    of  them  ?  " 

"  I  would  have  received  them  readily  enough.  Why,  the 
book  I  took  to  Concord  to  study  was  the  Catechism  of  the 
Council  of  Trent,  which  has  the  strongest  kind  of  statement  of 
that  doctrine.  Bellarmine's  formula  of  mains  and  maiatus  would 
have  opened  my  eyes  amazingly  to  a  solution  of  the  whole 
difficulty."  * 

The  Catechism  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  to  which  Father 
Hecker  so  often  refers,  was  the  very  best  book  he  could  have  had 
for  learning  just  what  Catholicity  is  in  doctrine  and  practice.  It 
is  unique  in  Catholic  literature,  being  the  only  authoritative  ex- 
pression of  the  Church,  in  extended  form,  on  matters  of  pastoral 
theology.  Outside  the  dogmatic  circle  of  doctrinal  definition  it 
enjoys  the  fullest  and  most  distinct  authorization.  The  express 
command  of  the  council  caused  it  to  be  prepared  by  a  special 
congregation  of  prelates  and  divines,  and  it  was  promulgated  to 
the  episcopate  to  be  translated  into  the  language  of  the  people 
and  expounded  to  them  by  all  pastors.  It  may  be  said  of  it 
that  it  is  the  only  book  which  has  the  Catholic  Church  for  its 
author.  It  is  a  book  which  never  can  grow  old  ;  and  in  witness 
of  that  perennial  quality,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  Cardinal 
Newman  said  that  he  never  preached  without  using  it  in  prepar- 
ation. It  is  an  exponent  of  Catholic  truth  absolutely  free  from 
the  danger  of  private,  or  national,  or  racial,  or  traditional  bias — 
the  very  book  Isaac  Hecker  was  in  need  of.  Its  plentiful  use 
of  Scripture  ;  its  confident  appeal  to  antiquity  ;  its  perfect  clear- 
ness; its  completeness  ;  its  tone  of  conviction  no  less  than  its 
attitude  of  authority  ;  make  it  to  such  minds  as  his  the  very  all- 
sufficient  organ  of  truth.     Furthermore,  the  entire  system  of  doc- 

*  Reference  is  here  made  to  a  very  famous  saying  of  Bellarmine's  in  explanation  of  a 
prevalent  teaching  on  original  sin.  According  to  that  teaching,  if  Adam  had  been  originally 
constituted  in  a  state  of  pure  nature,  devoid  of  supernatural  gifts  and  graces,  his  spiritual  con- 
dition might  be  described  as  naked— niidus.  On  the  other  hand,  man  as  now  born  is  nudatus, 
stripped  of  those  gifts  and  graces,  suffering  the  penal  privation  of  them  on  account  of  Adam's 
sin. 

"The  corruption  of  nature,"  says  Bellarmine,  "does  not  come  from  the  want  of  any 
natural  gift,  or  from  the  accession  of  any  evil  quality,  but  simply  from  the  loss  of  a  super- 
natural gift  on  account  of  Adam's  sin." 


At  the  Door  of  the  Church.  163 


trine  and  morals  known  to  revealed  religion  finds  here  its  ade- 
quate exposition.  We  are  glad  of  an  occasion  to  say  these 
words,  not  merely  to  chronicle  the  usefulness  of  the  book  to 
Father  Hecker,  but  also  to  recommend  its  restoration  to  its 
proper  place,  which  both  by  merit  and  by  authority  is  the  first 
in  the  moral  and  pastoral  literature  of  the  Church. 

"The  truth  is,"  continue  the  memoranda,  "that  original  sin 
as  taugJit  by  the  Church  would  never  have  been  a  great  diffi- 
culty to  me  :  of  course  the  Calvinistic  doctrine  is  quite  a  differ- 
ent affair. 

"  I  was  led,  after  I  got  to  work  at  the  Catechism  of  the 
Council  of  Trent,  in  a  way  quite  positive.  For  example,  one 
thing  I  wanted  was  a  satisfaction  of  that  feeling  and  sentiment 
which  has  made  so  many  persons  Spiritualists.  I  found  that  in 
the  Church  there  was  no  impassable  barrier  dividing  the  liv- 
ing from  the  departed.  That  was  an  intense  delight  to  me.* 
The  doctrine  of  penance,  and  the  forgiveness  of  sins  in  the 
Sacrament  of  Penance,  had  a  wonderful  beauty  as  soon  as 
I  found  them.  To  be  taught  that  God  had  somehow  given 
men  power  to  dispense  His  graces  and  mercies  made  me  say, 
Oh,  how  delightful  a  doctrine  that  is,  if  I  only  could  believe 
it !  The  doctrine  of  the  Communion  of  Saints  and  that  of 
the  Sacrament  of  Penance  were  very  pleasing  to  me.  Hence, 
I  soon  saw  that  what  I  already  had  of  truth  and  light ;  what 
my  best  nature  and  conscience  and  my  clearest  natural  knowl- 
edge told  me  was  truth ;  was  but  elevated  and  lifted  up  be- 
yond all  conception  by  these  and  other  doctrines  of  the  Church. 
From  this  I  was  soon  in  a  position  to  appreciate  the  Church's 
claim  to  authoritative  teaching.  If  she,  and  she  alone,  had 
taught  such  things,  she  must  possess  God's  teaching  authority. 

"  When,  therefore,  I  went  into  Boston  and  saw  Bishop  Fitz- 
patrick  (who  is  now,  I  hope,  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven),  he 
had  little  to  do  with  me  in  the  way  of  instruction.  The  Trinity 
and  other  fundamental  doctrines  I  accepted  readily  on  the  authority 
of  the  Church.  He  was  very  anxious  to  argue  with  me  about 
socialistic  theories,  on  account  cf  my  having  been  at  Brook 
Farm  and  Fruitlands.  But  I  told  him  I  had  no  such  difficulties 
as  he  supposed  ;  that  I  had  only  gone  to  these  places  in  search 
of  truth,  not   because    I  had    formed   any    such   theories    as    they 

*  Reference  is  here  made  to  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  the  Communion  of  Saints. 


164  The  Life  of  Father-  Hecker. 

generally  held.  He  then  asked  me  whether  I  would  not  prefer 
to  be  received  into  the  Church  in  New  York,  where  my  friends 
were.  I  said  I  did  not  care ;  if  he  would  give  me  a  letter  I 
would  present  it.  He  gave  me  one  to  Bishop  McCloskey,  who 
was  then  coadjutor  in  this  city." 

The  reader  may  be  interested  in  the  terms  in  which  the 
Catechism  of  the  Council  of  Trent  expresses  the  doctrine  of  the 
Communion  of  Saints.  So  far  as  that  doctrine  concerns  the  spir- 
itual side  of  man  it  is  expounded  in  these  words: 

"  For  the  unity  of  the  Spirit,  by  which  the  Church  is  gov- 
erned, establishes  among  all  her  members  a  community  of  spirit- 
ual blessings,  whereas  the  fruit  of  all  the  sacraments  is  common 
to  all  the  faithful,  and  these  sacraments,  particularly  baptism,  the 
door,  as  it  were,  by  which  we  are  admitted  into  the  Church,  are 
so  many  connecting  links  which  bind  and  unite  them  to  Jesus 
Christ." 

That  it  extends  to  the  mystical  and  miraculous  gifts  so  dear 
to  Father  Hecker,  was  thus  explained  to  him  : 

"  But  the  gifts  which  justify  and  endear  us  to  God  are  not 
alone  common :  '  graces  gratuitously  granted,'  such  as  knowl- 
edge, prophecy,  the  gifts  of  tongues  and  of  miracles,  and  others 
of  the  same  sort,  are  common  also,  and  are  granted  even  to  the 
wicked;  not,  however,  for  their  own,  but  for  the  general  good; 
for  the  building  up  of  the  Church  of  God." 

That  the  doctrine  is  the  foundation  of  a  real  though  not  a 
legal  community  of  material  goods,  was  evident  to  our  young 
social  reformer  from  the  following- : 


't> 


"  In  fine,  every  true  Christian  possesses  nothing  which  he 
should  not  consider  common  to  all  others  with  himself,  and 
should  therefore  be  prepared  promptly  to  relieve  an  indigent 
fellow-creature ;  for  he  that  is  blessed  with  worldly  goods,  and 
sees  his  brother  in  want,  and  will  not  assist  him,  is  at  once  con- 
victed of   not  having  the  love  of   God  within  him." 

Besides  giving  him  a  letter  to  Bishop  McCloskey,  Bishop 
Fitzpatrick  also  furnished  the  young  catechumen  with  one  to 
the   president    of   Holy    Cross    College,   an    institution    which    had 


At  the  Door  of  the  Church.  165 


been  established  at  Worcester,  Mass.,  in  1843  by  Bishop  Fen- 
wick,  and  presented  by  him  to  the  Society  of  Jesus,  of  which  he 
had  been  a  member.  The  following  letter  was  written  by  Isaac 
to  his  family  after  he  had    arrived  there;   his  stay  was    not  long: 

"  Worcester,  Mass.,  June,  '44. — Respecting  the  purpose  which 
leads  me  to  New  York  I  have  scarcely  a  word  to  say.  Quietly, 
without  excitement,  I  come  with  an  immovable  determination  to 
be  joined  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  There  is  a  conviction 
which  lies  deeper  than  all  thought  or  speech,  which  moves  me 
with  an  irresistible  influence  to  take  this  step,  which  arguments 
cannot  reach,  nor  any  visible  power  make  to  falter.  Words  are 
powerless  against  it  and  inexpressive  of  it ;  to  attempt  to  explain, 
or  give  to  the  intellectual  mind  the  reasons  why  and  wherefore, 
would  be  as  impossible  as  to  paint  the  heavens  or  to  utter  the 
eternal  Word,  the  centre  of  all  existence.  It  would  be  like  ask- 
ing, 'Wherefore  is  that  which  is?'  the  finite  questioning  the  in- 
finite ;    an  impossibility. 

"  No  man  by  his  own  wisdom  can  find  out  God  ;  and  it  is 
only  by  the  grace  of  Heaven  that  we  come  to,  and  by  the  heart 
perceive,  the  true  Church  of  Jesus  Christ.  Grace  teaches  us  to 
feel  and  know  that  which  before  was  unfelt,  unknown,  invisible. 
Perfect  submission  to  His  love  breaks  open  all  seals,  unlocks  all 
mysteries,  and  unfolds  all  difficulties.      .      .      . 

"No  external  event  of  any  kind  or  character  induces  me  to 
take  this  step.  If  what  does  is  delusion,  what  to  name  my 
former  life  I  am  at  a  loss  to  know. 

"The  heads  of  the  college  here  appear  to  be  men  of  good 
character,  devoted  to  the  Church,  innocent  of  the  Protestant 
world  of  literature,  philosophy,  etc.  The  president  is  a  very 
social,  frank,  warm-hearted  man,  of  more  extensive  acquaintance 
in  the  world  of  letters." 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

ACROSS   THE   THRESHOLD. 

FROM  Worcester  Isaac  went  on  to  New  York,  stopping  on  the 
way  to  make  a  brief  visit  to  the  Fourierite  community  in 
New  Jersey,  known  as  the  North  American  Phalanx.  He  prob- 
ably had  some  personal  acquaintances  there  whom  he  hoped  to 
inoculate  with  his  newly-found  certitude.  He  reached  home 
June  20,  1844,  and  five  days  later  presented  his  letter  to  Bishop 
McCloskey.  Concerning  the  acquaintance  then  begun,  which, 
on  the  bishop's  part,  soon  took  the  form  of  a  discerning  and 
wise  direction,  and  eventually  deepened  into  a  life-long  friend- 
ship, we  shall  have  more  to  say  hereafter.  The  diary  chronicles 
their  first  meeting  and  gives  the  reason  of  the  brief  delay  which 
ensued  before  Isaac  was  admitted  to  conditional  baptism.  The 
bulk  of  the  entries  made  between  this  date  and  that  of  his  for- 
mal reception  into  the  Church,  the  first  of  August,  contains 
spiritual  doctrine  of  a  kind  so  eminently  characteristic  of  Father 
Hecker  throughout  his  life  that  we  continue  to  make  extracts 
from  it : 

"New  York,  June  25,  1844. — This  morning  I  went  to  see 
Bishop  McCloskey.  I  found  him  a  man  of  fine  character,  mild 
disposition,  and  of  a  broader  education  than  any  of  the  Cath- 
olics I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting.  He  was  acquainted 
with  Brownson's  writings  and  Emerson's,  and  personally  knew 
Mr.  Channing,  whom  he  had  met  at  Rome.  He  loaned  me 
some  books  on  matters  pertaining  to  the  Church.  He  is  to  be 
gone  for  a  fortnight  from  New  York,  and  I  am  to  wait  until  he 
comes  back  before  I  take  any  further  steps  toward  being  united 
with  the  Church." 

"July  5,  1844. — ^  is  the  duty  of  every  man  to  do  that 
which  expresses  the  divine  life  which  stirs  within  him,  and  to  do 
nothing  which  is  inconformable  to  it.  So  far  as  he  falls  short 
of  this,  so  far  he  falls  short  of  his  duty,  his  perfection,  and 
divine  beauty.  I  think  we  may  say  with  very  great  certainty 
that  this  is  the  only  way  to  obtain  happiness  in  this  world  and 
eternal  felicity  in  the  world  to  come.     It  is  to  this  God  calls  us, 

but  we —no,   not  truly  we,   but  the   Man  of  Sin     flatter  ourselves, 

16C 


Across  tlic  Threshold.  167 


as  he  did  Eve,  that  if  we  follow  him  we  shall  not  die  but  be- 
come as  gods.  We,  to-day,  have  the  same  temptation  to  over- 
come that  Eve  had. 

"  Oh,  how  much  greater  God  would  have  us  be  than  we 
are,  and  we  will  not !  We  must  cast  out  the  Man  of  Sin  and 
submit  to  the  Paradisiacal  Man.  This  we  are  enabled  to  do, 
blessed  be  Heaven,  by  the  grace  of  God  through  Jesus  Christ. 

"  What  are  the  temptations  which  hold  men  back  from  fol- 
lowing God  and  leading  a  divine  life?  In  one  word,  the  World. 
Pride,  love  of  praise,  riches,  self-indulgence,  all  that  refers  and 
looks  to  time  instead  of  eternity,   heaven,   God. 

"We  should  encourage  all  that  gives  us  an  impulse  heaven- 
ward, and  deny  all  that  tends  to  draw  us  down  more  into  the 
body,  sense,  time.  Man,  alas  !  is  weak,  powerless,  and  unable 
to  perform  any  good  deed  which  will  raise  him  to  God  without 
the  free  gift,  the  blessed  grace  of  God  the  Holy  Spirit.  We  all 
fail  to  act  up  to  the  divine  grace  which  is  given  us.  O  Lord  ! 
forgive  my  manifold  transgressions,  and  empower  me  to  be  more 
and  more  obedient  to  thy  Holy  Spirit.  My  inward  man  desires 
to  follow  Thy  Spirit,  but  the  appetites  of  my  members  ever  war 
against  and  often  subdue  him.  Strengthen  him,  O  Lord  !  and 
enable  him  to  govern  my  whole  three-sphered  nature.  Send 
down  Thy  celestial  love  into  my  heart  and  quicken  all  my  heav- 
enly powers. 

"  It  is  very  true  that  no  man  can  serve  two  masters.  Be- 
tween God  and  Mammon  there  is  no  compromise,  no  mediator. 
Lord,  make  me  fully  sensible  of  this,  and  strengthen  my  resolu- 
tion to  follow  Thee.  I  do  look  to  the  Church  of  Christ  for  help. 
Oh,  may  I   find  in    it  that  which  the  Apostles  found   in  Jesus  !  " 

We  cannot  refrain  from  reminding  the  reader  of  the  immature 
age,  and  almost  total  lack  of  education — in  the  ordinary  meaning 
of  the  term — of  the  man  who  wrote  these  lofty  and  inspiring 
sentences.  He  was  ignorant  of  everything  but  the  most  rudimen- 
tary truths  of  Catholicity  ;  had  never  read  an  ascetic  work  ;  had 
never  spoken  on  ascetical  subjects  with  Catholics;  had  never  read 
the  life  of  a  saint ;  and  had  no  experience  to  draw  from  except 
his  own.  Yet  mark  the  absolute  certainty  of  his  propositions 
and  their  uniform  correctness.  It  should  also  be  made  known 
that  these  doctrines  and  sentiments,  though  written  with  the  most 
evident    haste,    follow    each    other,  page    after    page,   without    an 


1 68  The  Life  of  Fat  Iter  Hecker. 

erasure  or  a  correction.  The  truths  which  had  dropped  upon 
his  mind  were,  indeed,  rudimentary,  but  so  well  adapted  was  the 
soil  to  receive  the  seed  that  the  fruit  was  instant  and  mature. 
Seldom  has  spontaneity  so  well   approved  itself  by  its  utterances. 

"  July  6. — The  immediate  effect  of  Christianity  upon  hu- 
manity has  been  to  increase  man's  sensibility  to  the  objects  of 
the  spiritual  world.  Poetry,  music,  the  fine  arts,  are  ennobling 
and  spiritualizing  only  so  far  as  they  appeal  to  the  nature  of  man 
divinized  by  the  influence  of  the  Divinity.  Previous  to  the 
coming  of  Christ  the  tendency  of  the  arts  was,  on  the  whole, 
rather  to  encourage  licentiousness  and  sin  than  to  elevate  and 
refine  human  nature.  The  tendency  of  Christianity  was  to  restore 
man  to  his  primitive  gracefulness,  excellence,  and  beauty.  Hence 
the  expression  of  man  in  art — or,  rather,  of  the  divinity  in  man — 
became  purer  and  more  beautiful  in  its  character. 

"  In  affirming  Jesus  to  be  the  basis  and  life  of  modern  civil- 
ization, nothing  is  detracted  from  the  great  and  good  men  who 
preceded  Him;  nor"  [is  it  denied]  "that  they  have  left  traces 
of  their  genius  upon  modern  society. 

"  When  we  speak  of  Jesus  as  God,  we  affirm  Him  to  be  the 
Source  of  all  inspiration,  trom  whom  all,  ancient  and  modern, 
have  derived   their  life,   genius,   goodness,   and  divine  beauty. 

"Jesus  quickened  the  spiritual  powers  of  the  soul  which 
were  deadened  by  the  fall,  and  man  again  saw  heaven,  and 
angels  descending  and  ascending  to  the  throne  of  ineffable   Love. 

"  All  the  promises  of  Jesus  refer  to  gifts  of  spiritual  power 
over  inanimate  matter,  the  animal    creation,   and  the  Man  of  Sin. 

"Jesus  came  to  give  a  spiritual  life  which  would  generate  all 
knowledge  and  physical  well-being.  He  came,  not  to  teach  a 
system  of  philosophy,  however  useful  that  might  be ;  not  to 
direct  man  how  to  procure  food  for  his  physical  existence  with 
the  least  possible  exercise  of  physical  strength,  however  necessary 
this  might  seem.  But  He  came  to  give  man  a  new  nature 
which  shall  more  than  do  all  this;  which  will  not  only  secure 
his  well-being  here,  but  his  eternal  felicity  hereafter. 

"As  we  rise  above  our  time  nature,  and  are  united  with  our 
eternal  nature,  we  feel  more  and  more  our  indebtedness  to 
Christ.  It  was  to  this  He  called  us  in  all  His  words,  and  now 
calls  us  in   the   Spirit. 

"  So  long  as  low  appetites  are    cherished,   and  selfish  passions 


A  cross  the   Threshold.  169 


harbored,  and  vanity  allowed  a  seat  in  our  bosoms,  so  long  will 
men  be  slaves  to  their  stomachs,  backs,  and  business.  Every 
quickening  of  our  sensibility  toward  love,  heaven,  equity,  will 
lead  us  to  change  our  circumstances  so  as  to  make  them  con- 
formable to  our  new  inward  life. 

"  It  is  for  us  to  be  true  to  God,  however  unlike  the  world 
we  may  seem.  It  is  in  silence,  in  private,  alone,  that  deeds  can 
be  done  which  shall  outstrip  those  of  the  Alexanders  and 
Napoleons   in  their  eternal  effects." 

"July  7. — All  that  we  contend  for  is  that  man  should  obey 
God,  and  co-operate  in  His  work  with  his  will  and  not  against 
it.  Interior  submission  to  the  Love  Spirit  is  the  answer  to  all 
questions  concerning  man's  welfare,  here  and  hereafter.  What- 
ever a  man  is  led  to  do  in  obedience  to  it  is  well  done  and 
godlike,  though   it  lead  him  to  offer  up  his  only  dear  son. 

"  We  do  say,  with  great  emphasis,  that  nothing  under  heaven 
should  prevent  a  man  from  following  God.  Unless  a  man  can 
give  up  all  and  follow  Christ,  he  is  none  of  His.'' 

"  Every  true  man  is  a  genius. 

"  All  genius  is  relig'ous. 

"The  objective  forms  of  genius  are  the  expressions  of  the 
beautiful,  the  good,  and  the  true ;    in  one  word — God. 

"  He  is  a  genius  in  whom  the  beautiful,  the  good,  and  the 
true  permanently  inhabit. 

"The  genius  in  every  work  of  art  is  religious,  whatever  the 
subject  may  be. 

"We  repeat  that  every  man  is  called  to  give  expression  to 
the  highest,  best,  divinest  in  him ;  and  to  this,  and  to  this  only 
is  he  called. 

"We  add  that  the  Catholic  Church  is  the  medium  of  this 
divine  life,  and  that  she  has  nurtured  and  encouraged  men  of 
genius  in  her  bosom  as  a  fond  mother. 

"  We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the  Church  has  converted 
men  of  ordinary  stamp  into  geniuses,  but  that  she  has  given  the 
highest  inspiration  to  the  inborn  capacity  of  genius,  and  so,  to 
men  thus  gifted,  has  been  the  means  by  which  they  have  be- 
come more  than  they  could  have  been  without  her :  so,  also, 
with  the  most  ordinary  men. 

"We    affirm    that    the    influence    of    Protestantism     upon     the 


170  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


business  world  has  been  to   make  it  much   more    unchristian  than 
it  was  in  the  middle  ages  under  the  influence  of  Catholicism." 


*fc>v 


At  this  period,  when  Isaac  Hecker's  search  had  ceased,  but 
when  he  had  not  yet  entered  into  complete  and  formal  posses- 
sion of  the  truth,  we  find  him  looking  back  at  his  past  almost  as 
if  it  were  a  thing  in  which  his  interest  was  but  curious  and  imper- 
sonal. The  thought  of  writing  a  history  of  it  occurred  to  him, 
and  he  jotted  down  some  brief  notes,  and  made  a  partial  col- 
lection of  such  letters  and  other  memoranda,  apart  from  the 
diary,  as  he  found  to  have  been  preserved  by  his  family.  But 
this  scheme  was  merely  one  of  the  occupations  with  which  he  be- 
guiled the  necessary  delay  imposed  on  him  by  Bishop  McClos- 
key's  absence.  One  can  easily  believe  that  the  plan  he  proposed 
to  himself  has  deeply  interested  the  present  writer,  who,  though 
regretting  that  it  was  not  followed  out  by  Isaac  Hecker  himself, 
has  yet  been  enabled  by  the  diary  and  the  letters  to  measurably 
fulfil  its  purpose.  He  divided  it  into  five  periods,  and,  with  a 
reminiscence  of  Wilhelm  Aleister,  called  it  his  Wanderjahr : 

"  The  first  should  be  named  Youth,  and  give  the  ideal  and 
the  actual  in  youth. 

"The  second  should  be  the  struggle  between  the  ideal  and 
the  actual. 

"The  third  should  be  the  mastery  and  supremacy  of  the  ideal 
over  the  actual  and  material. 

"  The  fourth  should  give  the  absolute  union  of  the  ideal  and 
the  eternal-absolute  in  their  unconditioned  existence. 

"The  fifth  should  give  the  eventual  one-ness  of  the  ideal- 
absolute  with  humanity  and  nature. 

"  Under  these  five  heads  I  have  in  mind  materials  sufficient 
to  make  a  volume,  but  lack  the  close  application  necessary  to 
connect  them.  I  do  not  say  it  would  be  readable  when  done. 
It  would  be  the  esoteric  and  exoteric  history  of  my  own  life  for 
ten  years. 

"  I  would  open  the  first  chapter  thus  :  Let  men  say  what  they 
will,  God  above  us,  the  human  soul,  and  all  surrounding  nature, 
are  great  realities,  eternal,  solemn,  joyous  facts  of  human  expe- 
rience." 

In  the  fine  passage  that  follows  we  have  an  anticipation  of 
the   prominent    modern   conception  of  Christianity,    as  a  develop- 


.{cross  the    Threshold.  171 


ing  force  in  the  history  of  man — closing  an  epoch  and  introducing 
a  new  species  ;  or,  as  Father  Hccker  would  have  said  in  later 
years,  raising  man  from  his  natural  position  as  a  creature  of  God 
to  true  sonship  with  Him  through  affiliation  with  Jesus  Christ. 
The  thought,  as  it  stands  in  the  diary,  is  eminently  characteris- 
tic of  Isaac  Hecker,  who  always  felt,  in  a  measure  beyond 
what  is  ordinary,  his  solidarity  with  all  his  kind,  and  a 
longing  to  keep  in  step  with  them  on  the  line  of  their  direct 
advance : 

"July  \2. — We  make  no  question  that  God  gave  to  all  nations, 
previous  to  the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ,  His  beloved  and  only  Son,  dis- 
pensations of  light  and  love  in  their  great  men,  and  led  them 
from  time  to  time  to  the  stage  of  civilization  to  which  they  arrived. 
The  Christian  affirms  that  God  is  the  Parent  of  humanity,  the 
Father  of  every  human  being.*  It  would  be  in  direct  contradiction 
to  his  faith  to  deny  this.  But  Jesus  Christ  came  to  introduce  a 
new  life,  whose  light  and  love  should  so  surpass  all  that  had 
been  before  Him  as  to  make  it  appear  as  darkness  by  contrast. 
This  life  makes  no  war  against  the  good  and  true  that  already 
existed  in  men,  but  it  embraces,  includes,  and  fulfils  it  all,  and 
then  adds  more  than  men  had  dared  to  dream  before  His  coming. 
That  Christianity  is  of  this  high  character,  not  only  did  its  Author 
show  by  the  example  of  His  life  and  death,  but  it  has  shown 
itself  to  be  so  wherever  it  has  come  in  contact  with  any  of  the 
older  forms  of  religious  faith  and  doctrine.  It  has  exhibited  a 
power  that  is  superior  to,  and  which  overcomes,  all  that  arrays 
itself  against  it.  We  do  not  deny  *hat  Zoroaster,  Pythagoras, 
Plato,  Socrates,  Zeno,  Cato,  etc.,  were  good,  great,  and  religious 
men,  above  the  age  in  which  they  lived,  and  inspired  by  a  life 
not  only  superior  to  that  of  their  time  but  above  that  of  a  great 
part  of  Christendom,  so-called.  But  we  say  that  Christ  gave  to 
the  world  a  life  infinitely  above  theirs,  and  that,  had  they  been  His 
contemporaries,  or  ours,  they  would  have  been  as  far  superior  to 
their  actual  selves  as  the  inspiration  of  Christianity  is  superior  to 
that  under  which  they  lived." 

Although  there  is  authority  for  saying  that  the  business  part- 
nership between  Isaac  Hccker  and  his  brothers  was  not  formally 
dissolved  until  he  went  away  to  Belgium  in  1845,  he  seems  never 
to  have  resumed  any  active  share  in  it  after  his  return  from  Con- 


172  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


cord.  Now  and  again  the  old  scruples  about  this  apparent  inac- 
tivity returned  upon  him,  and  we  find  him  contracting  his  personal 
needs  within  a  compass  so  narrow  that  his  support  shall  be  felt 
as  the  least  possible  burden.  Thus  he  writes,  on  July  13,  that 
his  present  state  of  suspension  from  all  outward  engagements  can- 
not and  should  not  be  of  long  continuance.      He  adds: 

"  It  is  a  clear  and  bounden  duty  that  every  one  should  in 
some  way  or  other  compensate  the  world  for  that  which  he  con- 
sumes from  its  store.  But  I  do  not  see  how  I  can  do  this  con- 
sistently with  the  present  state  of  my  mind.  To  be  sure  I  have 
contracted  my  wants  as  respects  eating  as  far  as  seems  possible  to 
me  ;  somewhat  in  dress,  but  not  as  far  as  I  should  and  can  do.  As 
for  pleasures  and  many  other  causes  of  expenditure,  I  trust  I  am 
not  immoderate.  In  this  part  of  the  world  I  do  not  see  any  pre- 
pared, congenial  conditions.  If  I  were  in  Europe,  I  should  find 
in  the  Catholic  Church  institutions  which  I  could  enter  for  a 
time,  until  this  period  of  my  life  would  either  fix  itself 
permanently,  or  give  place  to  another  in  which  I  could  see  my 
way  more  clearly.  But  here  I  am,  and  not  in  Europe.  Some 
thoughts  have  arisen  in  my  mind,  and  I  will  state  them,  as  to 
what  may  come  at  some  future  time  within  the  range  of  the 
possible  : 

"  If  I   am  joined  to  the    Catholic  Church,    and  there  is  such  an 

institution  in   Europe,    may  I   not  go    there   and  live  for    a  time? 

Ah  !  is  this  possible  ? 

"  If  we  owned  a  spot  of  ground,  I  would  be  willing  to    go  on 

it  and  engage  as  much  of  my  time  as  possible  in  cultivating  and 

improving  it. 

"Lastly,   I  do  not  know  what  effect  the  advice  and    influence 

of  the   Catholic  Church  may  have  upon  my  mind,  and   do  have  a 

slight  hope  that  I   may  find  the  exact  remedy  that  I   need  in    my 

union  with  her. 

"  I  feel   the  assurance  that  if  I  follow  the   Spirit   of    God,   and 

place  all  my  confidence  in  it,  it    will  do  for   me  what  I  dare  not 

hope  to  do  for  myself." 

A  day  or   two  later  he  jots  down,  casually  as  it  were,   one   of 
those  profound  observations  which   are  like  pointers,  to  his  whole 

*  "As  some  also  of  your  own  poets  said  :  For  we  are  also  His  offspring.  Being,  therefore, 
the  offspring  of  God,  we  must  not  suppose  the  Divinity  to  be  like  unto  gold  or  silver  or  stone, 
the  graving  of  art  and  the  device  of  man."     (Acts  xvii.  28,  29.) 


Across  the    Threshold.  173 


career.  Occurring  at  this  early  period,  when,  as  the  reader 
may  see  hereafter,  the  germs  of  all  his  later  thought  and  work- 
were  beginning  to  unfold,  they  arc  like  rifts  in  the  darkness  which 
seemed  to  himself  to  lie  about  his  future,  and  show  plainly  to 
the  student  of  his  life  how  straight  and  secure  his  path  was  amidst 
it  all.  lie  had  been  counselling  himself  to  patience  and  entire 
reliance  upon  God's  providence  while  waiting  the  opportunity 
"  to  create  or  procure  the  circumstances"  necessary  to  the  expres- 
sion of  his  own  individuality.  He  felt  that  this  was  the  especial 
task  to  which  all   men  were  called.      To  use  his  own  words  : 

"  It  is  for  this  we  are  created  ;  that  we  may  give  a  new  and  indi- 
vidual expression  of  the  absolute  in  our  own  peculiar  character. 
As  soon  as  the  new  is  but  the  re-expression  of  the  old,  God 
ceases  to  live.  Ever  the  mystery  is  revealed  in  each  new  birth. 
So  must  it  be  to  eternity.  The  Eternal-Absolute  is  ever  creating 
new  forms  of  expressing  itself." 

In  the  next  chapter  we  shall  have  occasion  to  give  Father 
Hecker's  choice  of  an  epitaph  for  Dr.  Brownson.  We  think  that  the 
sentences  just  quoted  are  worthy  to  be    his  own. 

In  the  middle  of  July  Bishop  McCloskey  returned  to  New 
York,  and  Isaac  waited  upon  him  without  delay.  Their  first  long 
conversation  made  it  plain  to  the  bishop  that  the  young  man  had 
very  little  need  of  further  preliminary  instruction,  and  it  was 
settled  that  conditional  baptism  should  be  administered  to  him 
within  a  fortnight.  That  the  nature  of  Isaac  Hecker's  vocation 
also  revealed  itself  to  this  prudent  adviser  is  also  evident  from 
this  entry,   made  in  the  diary  as  soon  as  the  visit  was   ended : 

"  He  said  that  my  life  would  lead  me  to  contemplation,  and 
that  in  this  country  the  Church  was  so  situated  as  to  require  them 
all  to  be  active.  I  did  not  speak  further  on  this  subject  with 
him.  He  asked  whether  I  felt  like  devoting  myself  to  the  order 
of  the  priesthood,  and  undergoing  their  discipline,  self-denial,  etc., 
and  becoming  a  missionary.  I  answered  that  all  I  could  say  was 
that  I  wished  to  live  the  life  given  me,  and  felt  like  sacrificing  all 
things  to  this  ;  but  could  not  say  that  the  priesthood  would  be 
the  proper  place  for  me. 

"  I  feel  that  if,  for  a  certain  length  of  time,  and  under  the 
discipline  of  the  Church,  I  could  have  the  conditions  for  leading  the 


174  The  Life  of  Fat  lie  7'  Hcckei'. 


life  of  contemplation,  it  would  be  what  the  Spirit  now  demands. 
Whether  I  shall  not  be  compelled  back  to  this  if  I  attempt  to 
follow  some  other  way,  I  am  not  perfectly  sure.  The  bishop  in- 
timated that  in  Europe  there  were  brotherhoods  congenial  to  the 
state  of  mind  that  I  am  in.  If  so,  and  I  could  remain  there  for 
a  certain  length  of  time,  why  should  I  not  go  ?  I  will  inquire 
further  about  it  when  next  I  speak  with  the  bishop. 

"  There  is  a  college  at  Fordham  where  there  is  to  be  a  com- 
mencement to-morrow,  which  the  bishop  invited  me  to  go  and 
see.  Perhaps  I  shall  find  this  place  to  be  suitable,  and  may  be 
led  to  examine  and  try  it.  The  Lord  knows  all ;  into  His  hands 
I  resign  myself." 

His  impressions  of  the  Catholic  college  at  Fordham  he  does 
not  record.  The  next  entry  in  the  diary  is,  as  usual,  taken  up 
with  the  large  topics  which  for  the  most  part  excluded  parti- 
cular incidents  from  mention.  What  his  strict  abstinence  from 
permitted  pleasures,  and  the  rigorous  self-discipline  which  he  had 
so  long  practised,  meant  to  himself,  may  be  partly  gathered 
from  the  extract  we  are  about  to  give.  He  says  he  does  not 
call  such  denial, 

"in  strict  language,  the  denial  of  our  true,  God-created,  im- 
mortal self,  but  the  denial  of  that  which  is  not  myself,  but 
which  has  usurped  the  place  of  my  true,  eternal,  heavenly, 
Adamic  being.  It  is  the  restoration  of  that  defaced  image  of 
God  to  its  primitive  divine  beauty,  grace,  and  sweetness.  We 
must  feel  and  possess  the  love  and  light  from  above  before  we 
have  the  disposition  and  power  to  deny  the  body  and  the  wis- 
dom of  this  world.  If  we  have  the  Christ-spirit,  we  will  fulfil 
the  Christ- commands. 

"  Thus  was  it  with  man  prior  to  his  spiritual  death,  his  fall. 
He  lived  in  and  enjoyed  God,  and  was  in  communion  and 
society  with  angels,  not  knowing  good  and  evil.  His  life  was 
spontaneous ;  his  wisdom  intuitive  ;  he  was  unconscious  of  it,  even 
as  we  would  be  of  light  were  there  no  darkness.  We  should  see  it 
and  be  recipients  of  all  its  blessings  without  knowing  its  exist- 
ence. But  darkness  came,  and  man  knew.  Alas  !  in  knowing 
he  lost  all  that  he  possessed  before. 

"  Jesus  came  to  restore  man  to  that  eternal  day  from  which 
Adam  fell." 


Across  the   Threshold.  175 


About  this  time  he  mentions  having  spent  a  day  in  the 
woods  with  some  friends,  at  Fort  Lee ;  it  is  the  only  allusion 
we  find  to  any  sort  of  recreation  or  companionship  with  others. 
He  sat  alone  for  an  hour,  he  says,  in  a  pleasant  spot  which 
overlooked  the  Hudson  and  the  high  Palisade  rocks,  and  "  seemed 
to  be  in  communion  with  the  infinite  invisible  all  around  in  all 
the  deep  avenues  of  the  soul." 

Four  days  before  his  baptism  comes  this  anticipation   of  it : 

"  New  York,  July  27,  '44. — I  have  commenced  acting.  My 
union  with  the  Catholic  Church  is  my  first  real,  true  act.  And 
it  is  no  doubt  the  forerunner  of  many  more — of  an  active  life. 
Heretofore  I  did  not  see  or  feel  in  me  the  grounds  upon  which 
I  could  act  with  permanence  and  security.  I  now  do  ;  and  on 
this  basis  my  future  life  will  be  built.  What  my  actions  may 
be,  I  care  not.  It  was  this  deep  eternal  certainty  within  I  did 
wish  to  feel,  and  I  am  now  conscious  that  the  lack  of  it  was 
the  reason  for  my  inactivity. 

"With  this  guide  I  ask  no  other,  nor  do  I  feel  the  need  of 
the  support  of  friends,  or  kindred,  or  the  world.  Alone  it  is 
sufficient  for  me,  though  it  contradicts  the  advice  of  my  friends 
and  all  my  former  life.  It  certainly  seems  to  me  absolute  :  if 
any  error  arises  it  will   be  from   my  disobedience." 

"  July  30. — The  inward  voice  becomes  more  and  more  audible. 
It  says  :   '  I  am — obey  !  ' 

"The  new  clothes  itself  in   new  dress. 

"What  proof  does  a  man  give  that  he  is  if  he  does  only 
what  has  been  done  ? 

"  Can  a  man  repeat  the  past  with   genius  ? 

"  One  true  act  opens  the  passage  to  ten  more. 

"  Man  is  le*"f  to  his  own    destiny  ;     religion    but    sanctifies  it." 

When  the  day  comes  at  last,  the  Sacrament  itself  gets  only 
the  briefest  chronicle.  The  door  seems  but  a  door.  Passing 
through  it,  he  finds  himself  at  home,  and  apparently  without  one 
quickening  of  the  pulse,  or  any  cessation  of  his  desire  to  pene- 
trate all  its  secret  chambers.  The  explanation  of  this  is  to  be 
looked  for  in  the  presumption  that  his  baptism  in  infancy  had  been 
valid.  It  was  conferred  by  a  Lutheran  minister  who  must 
have  been  trained  in  Germany,  and  whose    methodical  adherence 


176  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 

to  the  proper  form  might  be  counted  on.  In  the  sight  of  God, 
doubtless,  he  had  never  since  been  outside  the  Church.  He 
was  like  a  child  stolen  from  the  cradle,  but  in  whom  racial  and 
family  traits  had  been  superior  to  an  uncongenial  environment. 

"Friday,  August  1,  1844,  I  P.M. — This  morning  we  were 
baptized  by  Bishop  McCloskey.  To-morrow  we  attend  the  tri- 
bunal of  confession." 

Then  he  mentions  a  curious  fact  which  recalls  a  similar  experi- 
ence of  St.  Catherine  of  Genoa :  "  We  know  not  why  it  is  we 
feel  an  internal  necessity  of  using  the  plural  pronoun  instead  of 
the  singular." 

But  if  conditional  baptism  left  him  silent,  the  Sacrament  he 
certainly  received  the  following  day  opened  the  flood-gates  of 
his  speech  : 

"August  2. — Penance!  joy!  unbounded  love!  Sweet  Jesus, 
Thy  love  is  infinite  !  Blessed  faith  !  sweet  love  !  I  possess  an 
internal  glory,  a  glowing  flame  of  love  !  Let  my  whole  life  be 
one  act  of  penance  !  O  dear  Jesus,  the  life-giver  !  Oh,  what  a 
sweet  thing  it  is  to  be  in  the  way  of  loveful  grace  !  Jesus,  keep 
me  near  Thee  !  Oh,  how  great  a  condescension,  Jesus  is  my 
Friend!    Oh!  who  has  the  conception  of  Jesus  being  his  Friend? 

0  ancient  faith,  how  dear,  how  good  is  God  in  giving  us 
sinners  thee  !  Blessed  is  the  grace  of  God  that  leadeth  sinners 
to  thee  !  Oh,  how  thou  hast  comforted  the  soul  !  It  would  turn 
from  thee,  but  thou  strengthenest  it.  The  cup  was  bitter,  but 
infinitely  more  sweet  is  the  joy  thou  givest.  My  soul  is  clothed 
in  brightness ;  its  youth  is  restored.  O  blessed,  ever-blessed, 
unfathomable,  divine  faith  !  O  faith  of  apostles,  martyrs,  con- 
fessors,  and    saints!     Holy  Mother  of  Jesus,  thou  art  my  mother. 

1  feel  In  my  heart  thy  tender  love.  O  holy  Mother,  thou  hast 
beheld  me  !     Bless  me,  Virgin  Mother  of  Jesus  !  " 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

NEW    INFLUENCES. 

BISHOP  McCLOSKEY,  afterwards  the  first  American  Cardinal, 
was  coadjutor  to  Bishop  Hughes  from  1844  to  1847.  He  was 
living  at  the  old  Cathedral  when  Isaac  Hecker  first  called  upon 
him.  He  was  still  a  young  man,  less  than  ten  years  separating 
him  from  the  youthful  catechumen.  In  temperament  they  were 
very  different.  The  bishop,  a  man  of  routine  in  method  and  of 
no  original  views  of  principles,  was  so,  nevertheless,  by  mental 
predisposition  rather  than  by  positive  choice.  He  was  a  man  of 
finished  education  ;  a  dignified  speaker,  whose  words  read  as  im- 
pressively as  they  sounded.  Although  the  two  men  were  so  un- 
like, the  bishop  could,  at  least  after  brief  hesitation,  fully  appre- 
ciate Isaac  Hecker;  nay,  could  love  him,  could  further  his  plans, 
and  stand  by  him  in  his  difficulties.  Before  we  are  done  with 
this  Life,  the  reader  will  see  this  more  in  detail. 

Nor  was  Bishop  McCloskey  without  light  as  a  judge  in 
spiritual  matters.  By  nature  calm  and  self- poised,  and  readily 
obedient  to  reason,  the  grace  of  his  high  office,  his  wide  knowl- 
edge of  men,  his  extensive  reading,  were  doubtless  supplemented 
by  a  special  infusion  of  heavenly  wisdom,  due  to  his  upright 
purpose  and  his  spotless  life.  Though  not  timid,  he  was  not 
conspicuous  for  courage ;  his  refuge  in  difficulty  was  a  high 
order  of  prudence,  never  cowardice  ;  nor  did  he  err  either  by 
precipitancy,  by  cruelty,  or  by  rigidity  of  adherence  to  abstract 
rules  of  law.  Father  Hecker  knew  him  thoroughly  well,  and 
admired  him  ;  more,  he  profited  by  his  guidance,  and  that  not 
only  at  this  earliest  period  of  their  intercourse.  It  was  by  him 
that  Isaac  Hecker's  vocation  was,  though  not  revealed,  yet  most 
wisely  directed,  Brownson  told  the  young  man  that  he  ought 
to  devote  himself  to  the  Germans  in  this  country ;  Bishop 
Hughes  advised  him  to  go  to  St.  Sulpice  and  study  for  the 
secular  priesthood  ;  Bishop  McCloskey  told  him  to  become  a 
religious. 

Hitherto  Isaac  Hecker's  environment  had  been  entirely  non- 
Catholic;  the  ebbing  and  flowing  of  a  sea  of  doubt  and  inquiry 
upon  which  floated  small  boats  and  rafts  which  had  been  cast 
off  from  the  good  ship  of  Christ.  Now  that  he  was  on  board 
the  ship  itself,  he  found  its  crew  and  passengers  sailing  straight  on 

'77 


i-8  The  Life  of  Father  Heekcr. 


toward  their  destined  haven,  paying  small  regard,  as  a  rule,  to 
the  small  craft  and  the  shipwrecked  sailors  tossing  on  the  wild 
waves  around  them,  and  only  surprised  when  one  or  another 
hailed  their  vessel  and  asked  to  be  taken  on  board. %  Nor  did 
the  attitude  of  non-Catholics,  taking  them  generally,  invite  any- 
thing else.  Isaac  Hecker,  passing  into  the  Church,  not  only 
came  into  contact  with  its  members,  but  was  to  be  for  some 
years  exclusively  in  their  company.  But,  though  carried  beyond 
the  Ripleys,  the  Alcotts,  the  Lanes,  the  Emersons,  and  beyond 
the  theories  they  in  some  sort  stand  for  and  represent,  he  had 
learned  them  and  their  lesson,  and  never  lost  his  aptitude  for 
returning  to  their  company  with  a  Catholic  message.  His  fare- 
well to  that  class  did  not  involve  loss  of  affectionate  interest,  for 
in  mind  he  continually  reverted  to  them.  He  knew  that  their 
peculiar  traits  were  significant  of  the  most  imperative  invitation 
of  Providence  to  missionary  work.  He  thought  it  was  to  that 
class,  or,  rather,  to  the  multitude  to  whom  they  were  prophets, 
that  the  exponent  of  Catholicity  should  first  address  himself. 
They  possessed  the  highest  activity  of  the  natural  faculties ; 
they  were  all  but  the  only  class  of  Americans  who  loved  truth 
for  its  own  sake,  that  trait  which  is  the  peculiarity  of  the  Cath- 
olic mind,  and  the  first  requisite  for  real  conversion. 

It  may  have  been  the  latent  strength  of  this  conviction  that, 
within  a  year  after  his  reception  into  the  Church,  permanently  af- 
fected the  influence  which  Brownson  had  so  long  exerted  over  him. 
It  ceased  now  to  be  in  any  sense  controlling,  and  at  no  future  time 
regained  force  enough  to  be  directive.  They  found  the  Church 
together,  went  together  into  its  vestibule,  and  were  received  nearly 
at  the  same  time.  And  then  the  wide  liberties  of  a  universal  re- 
ligion gave  ample  scope  and  large  suggestion  for  the  accentuation 
and  development  of  their  native  differences.  Brownson  was  a 
publicist  and  remained  so ;  Isaac  Hecker  was  a  mystic  and  re- 
mained so.  To  the  mysticism  of  the  latter  was  added  an  ex- 
ternal apostolate ;  the  public  activity  of  the  former  was,  indeed, 
apostolic,  but  upon  a  field  not  only  different  from  any  he  would 
himself  have  spontaneously  chosen,  but  quite  unlike.  Our  reader 
already  knows  how  grievous  a  loss  to  the  public  exposition  of 
the  Church  in  America  this  deflection  of  Brownson's  genius  from 
its  true  direction  seemed  to  Father  Hecker.  He  never  ceased  to 
deplore  it  as  a  needless  calamity,  overruled  in  great  measure, 
indeed,  by  the  good  Providence  of  God,  but  not  wholly  repaired. 


New  Influences.  179 


Father  Hecker's  affection  for  Dr.  Brownson  never  wavered, 
and  his  gratitude  towards  him  was  only  deepened  and  made  more 
efficacious  with  the  lapse  of  time  and  the  growth  of  his  own 
spiritual  experience.  If  they  did  not  always  agree,  either  in 
principles  or  in  questions  of  policy,  they  always  loved  each 
other.  The  memoranda  furnish  an  interesting  proof  of  this  abid- 
ing affection  on  the  part  of  Father  Hecker.      He  was  asked  : 

"  Don't  you  think  we  might  have  a  memorial  tablet  to  Dr. 
Brownson  in  our  church?" 

"  Yes !  Of  all  the  men  I  ever  knew,  he  had  most  influence 
over  me." 

"When  you  were  in  early  life?" 

"Yes,  of  course.  Oh!  in  after  life  no  man  has  had  influence 
with  me,  but  only  God." 

This  meant,  of  course,  the  influence  of  master  upon  disciple,  and 
not  that  of  lawful  authority  or  of  fraternal  love,  to  both  of  which 
Father  Hecker  was  ever  very  sensitive. 

Speaking  at  another  time  of  Brownson,  he  quoted  this  sen- 
tence from  The  Convert  as  so  perfect  an  epitome  of  the  man 
that  it  should  be  put  on  his  monument : 

"  I  had  one  principle,  and  only  one,  to  which,  since  throwing 
up  Universalism,  I  had  been  faithful ;  a  principle  to  which  I  had, 
perhaps,  made  some  sacrifices — that  of  following  my  own  honest 
convictions  whithersoever  they  should  lead  me." 

And  just  here  is  found  one  of  those  points  of  essential  differ- 
ence which  it  is  interesting  to  note  between  these  two  men,  so 
closely  drawn  together  by  Divine  Providence  at  one  period,  and 
in  such  a  relation  that  to  the  elder  the  function  of  guidance 
seemed  to  have  been  appointed.  In  unswerving  fidelity  to  con- 
viction they  were  on  a  par,  but  in  native  clearness  of  vision  and 
instinctive  aversion  from  error  they  were  far  less  closely  matched. 
Brownson  in  early  life  had  tried,  accepted,  and  preached  various 
forms  of  aberration  from  true  doctrine.  One  might  say  of  him, 
that,  having  found  himself  outside  the  highway  at  his  start,  he 
gathered  accretions  from  hedge  and  ditch  as  he  struggled  toward 
the  true  road,  and  went  through  an  after  process  of  sloughing 
them  one  by  one.  Perhaps  that  process  ended  in  making  him 
over-timid.  It  was  otherwise  with  Isaac  Hecker.  He,  too,  had 
stopped  to  consider  many  doctrines  which  purported  to  be  true  ; 
more  than  that,  he  had  recognized  in  each  the  modicum  of  truth 


1 80  The  Life  of  Father  Heckcr. 


which  it  possessed.  But  the  falsity  with  which  this  was  over- 
loaded was  powerful  enough  to  repel  him,  in  spite  of  the  truth  he 
knew  to  be  contained  in  it.  He  carried  in  himself  the  touchstone 
to  which  all  that  was  akin  to  it  beyond  him  responded  of  neces- 
sity. The  Light  which  lights  every  man  who  comes  into  the 
world  had  not  only  never  been  darkened  in  him  by  sinful 
courses,  but  it  seemed  to  burn  with  a  crystal  clearness  which 
threw  up  into  hideous  and  repellant  proportions  all  that  was 
offensive  to  it.  Many  voices  had  called  him  from  without,  but  he 
had  refused  obedience  unto  any.  He  never  submitted  until  his 
submission  was  full  and  not  to  be  withdrawn.  So,  once  in  the 
Church,  and  enjoying  her  divine  guarantee  of  external  authority, 
he  had  few  if  any  disquieting  recollections  of  error  to  breed  dis- 
trust of  the  light  that  shone  within  him.  His  soul  was  of  that 
order  to  which  truth  speaks  authoritatively  and  at  first  hand  ;  of 
that  soil  from  which  institutions  which  are  to  stand  spring  by  a 
true  process  of  development,  because  it  is  the  soil  which  first  re- 
ceived their  germs.  Always  it  is  the  soul  of  man  which  is  in- 
spired, the  mind  of  man  that  is  enlightened.  Then  the  teaching 
comes  as  record  of  the  fact  and  the  doctrine ;  then  the  institu- 
tion solidifies  about  them,  a  perpetual  witness  that  to  many  men 
and  ages  of  men  the  same  message  has  been  handed  down  by 
its  first  recipients  and  has  produced  in  them  its  proper  results. 
The  race  of  such  souls  has  not  died  out  in  the  Christian  Church. 
The  one  truth,  spoken  once  for  all  by  the  Incarnate  Word,  takes 
on  for  them  new  aspects  and  new  tones.  They  are  the  pioneers 
of  great  movements.  Nurtured  in  the  Church,  their  ardor  burns 
away  mere  conventionalities  ;  born  outside  the  Church,  the  light 
she  carries  is  a  beacon,  and  the  voice  she  utters  is  felt  as  that  of 
the  true  Mother.  To  adapt  once  more  a  pregnant  sentence  from 
young  Hecker,  of  the  truth  of  which  he  was  himself  an  example : 
"It  is  God  in  them  which  believes  in   God." 

But  to  return  to  Brownson.  An  entry  in  the  journal,  made 
nearly  a  year  later,  sums  up  the  total  impression  which  Brown- 
son  had  made  upon  his  young  disciple  : 

"June  22,  1845. — O.  A.  B.  is  here.  He  arrived  this  morn- 
ing. Though  he  is  a  friend  to  me,  and  the  most  critical 
periods  of  my  experience  have  been  known  to  him,  and  he  has 
frequently   given  me   advice  and  sympathy,    yet    he    never  moves 


New  Influences.  1 8 1 

my  heart.  He  has  been  of  inestimable  use  to  me  in  my  intel- 
lectual development.  He  is,  too,  a  man  of  heart.  But  he  is  so 
strong,  and  so  intellectually  active,  that  all  his  energy  is  con- 
sumed in  thought.  He  is  an  intellectual  athlete.  He  thinks  for 
a  dozen  men.  He  does  not  take  time  to  realize  in  heart  for 
himself.  No  man  reads  or  thinks  more  than  he.  But  he  is 
greater  as  a  writer  than  as  a  person.  There  are  men  who  never 
wrote  a  line,  but  whose  influence  is  deeper  and  more  extensive 
than  that  of  others  who  have  written  heavy  tomes. 

"  It  is  too  late  for  Brownson  to  give  himself  to  contempla- 
tion and  interior  recollection.  He  is  a  controversialist ;  a  doc- 
tor The  last  he  will  be  before  long.  Some  have  wondered 
why  I  should  have  contracted  such  a  friendship  for  one  whom 
they  imagine  to  be  so  harsh  and  dictatorial.  I  have  not  felt 
this.  His  presence  does  not  change  me  ;  nor  do  I  find  myself 
where  I  was  not  after  having  met  him.  He  has  not  the  tem- 
perament of  a  genius,  but  that  of  a  rhetorician  and  declaimer. 
He  arrives  at  his  truths  by  a  regular  and  consecutive  system 
of  logic.  His  mind  is  of  a  historical  more  than  of  a  poetical 
mould. 

"  As  a  man,  I  have  never  known  one  so  conscientious  and 
self-sacrificing.  This  is  natural  to  him.  His  love  of  right  is  su- 
preme, and  the  thing  he  detests  most  is  bad  logic.  It  makes 
him  peevish  and  often  riles  his  temper.  He  defeats,  but  will 
never  convince  an  opponent.  This  is  bad.  No  one  loves  to 
break  a  lance  with  him,  because  he  cuts  such  ungentlemanly 
gashes.  He  is  strong,  and  he  knows  it.  There  is  more  of  the 
Indian  chief  than  of  the  Christian  knight  in  his  composition.  But 
he  has  something  of  both,  though  nothing  of  the  modern  scholar, 
so  called.  His  art  is  logic,  but  he  never  aims  at  art.  By  nature 
he  is   a  most   genuine  and  true  man  ;   none  so  much    so.      By  no 

means  E "   [Emerson  ?]     "  who  ever    prates    about  this  thing. 

If  he  attempts  embellishment,  you  see  at  once  it  is  borrowed  ;  it 
is  not  in  his  nature.  There  is  a  pure  and  genuine  vein  of 
poetry  running  through  him,  but  it  is  not  sufficient  to  tincture 
the  whole  flow  of  his  life.  He  is  a  man  of  the  thirteenth  or 
fourteenth  century  rather  than  of  the  nineteenth.  He  is  an 
anomaly  among  its  scholars,  writers,  and  divines.  He  is  not 
thorough  on  any  one  subject  though  at  home  on  all.  What  a 
finished  collegiate  education  would  have  done  for  him  I  am 
baffled  to  conjecture.       He  is  genuine,   and   I   love   him    for  that; 


1 82  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


it  is  the  crown  of  all  virtues.      But  I   must  stop.      I  only  intended 
to  mention  that  he   is    here." 

The  reader  may  well  suppose  that  Father  Hecker  fully  ap- 
preciated Brownson's  literary  genius.  The  English  language  in 
his  grasp  was  a  weapon  to  slay  and  a  talisman  to  raise  to  life. 
Never  was  argumentation  made  more  delightful  reading;  never 
did  a  master  instruct  more  exclusively  by  the  aid  of  his  disci- 
ple's highest  faculties  than  did  Brownson.  Habituated  his  whole 
life  long  to  the  ardent  study  of  the  greatest  topics  of  the  human 
understanding,  he  was  able  to  teach  all,  as  he  had  taught  young 
Hecker,  how  to  think,  discern,  judge,  penetrate,  decide  about  them 
with  matchless  power;  and  he  clothes  his  conclusions  in  lan- 
guage as  adequate  to  express  them  as  human  language  well  can  be. 
Clearness,  precision,  force,  purity,  vividness,  loftiness  are  terms 
applicable  to  Dr.  Brownson's  literary  style.  It  may  be  that  the 
general  reading  public  will  not  study  his  works  merely  for  the 
sake  of  his  literary  merits ;  the  pleasures  of  the  imagination 
and  of  narrative  are  not  to  be  found  in  Dr.  Brownson.  But  he 
certainly  will  win  his  way  to  the  suffrages  of  the  higher  class 
of  students  of  fine  writing.  And  let  one  have  any  shadow  of 
interest  in  the  great  questions  he  treats,  and  every  page  dis- 
plays a  style  which  is  the  rarest  of  literary  gifts.  The  very  fact 
that  his  writing  is  untinted  by  those  lesser  beauties  which  catch 
the  eye  but  to  impede  its  deepest  glances,  is  in  itself  an  ex- 
cellence all  the  greater  in  proportion  to  the  gravity  of  his  topics. 
Absolutely  free  from  the  least  obscurity,  his  diction  is  a  mag- 
netic medium  uniting  the  master's  personality,  the  disciple's  un- 
derstanding, and  the  essence  of  the  subject  under  consideration. 
Carainal  Newman,  some  may  believe,  possessed  this  supreme 
rhetoric  in  perhaps  even  a  higher  degree  than  Brownson,  but  so 
much  can  be  said  of  few  other  writers  of  English  prose.  George 
Ripley,  whom  Father  Hecker  deemed  the  best  judge  of  liter- 
ature in  our  country  or  elsewhere,  assured  him  that  there  were 
passages  in  Dr.  Brownson  which  could  not  be  surpassed  in  the 
whole  range  of  English  literature. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

YEARNINGS    AFTER     CONTEMPLATION. 

"  /^OULD  I  but  give  up  all  my  time  to  contemplation,  study, 
\s     reading,   and    reflection !" 

Upon  this  aspiration  as  a  background  the  whole  matter  of 
Isaac  Hecker's  vocation  must  be  considered.  In  substance  we 
have  met  with  it  very  frequently  already;  in  the  shape  just  given 
it  confronts  us  on  the  first  page  of  the  new  diary  begun  a  few 
days  before  his  baptism.  And  as  our  reader  accompanies  us 
through  the  records  he  made  during  the  year  that  still  elapsed 
before  he  entered  the  Redemptorist  Order,  nothing,  we  think, 
will  become  more  evident  than  that  he  was  called  to  something 
beyond  adhesion  to  the  Church,  the  worthy  reception  of  the  sacra- 
ments,  or  even  the  ordinary  sacerdotal  state. 

To  make  this  still  plainer  at  the  start,  it  may  be  useful  to  de- 
scribe briefly  the  special  grounds  whereon  Isaac  Hecker  fought 
his  life-long  battles.  These  were,  first :  The  validity  of  those  natu- 
ral aspirations  which  are  called  religious,  and  which  embrace  the 
veracity  of  reason  in  its  essential  affirmations.  Second  :  Whether 
man  be  by  nature  guileless  or  totally  depraved  :  Third,  Whether 
religion  be  or  be  not  intrinsically  and  primarily  an  elevating  influ- 
ence whose  end  is  to  raise  men  to  real  union  with  God. 

To  many  inquirers  after  the  true  religion  such  preliminary 
doubts  have  been  already  settled,  either  by  natural  bent  of  mind 
or  docility  to  previous  training;  and  they  pass  on  to  consider 
apostolical  succession,  the  primacy  of  Peter,  the  nature  and  num- 
ber of  the  sacraments,  and  other  matters  wherein  heresy  errs  by 
denial  or  by  defect.  But  to  Isaac  Hecker  all  such  points  as  these 
were,  in  a  sense,  subsidiary.  He  had  asked  admission  into  the 
Church  because  he  found  it  to  be  the  only  teaching  society  on 
earth  whose  doctrines  gave  complete  and  adequate  satisfaction  to 
that  fundamental  craving  of  his  nature  which  prompted  his  ques- 
tions. She  accredited  herself  to  him  as  fully  by  that  fact  as  she 
must  have  done  to  many  a  philosophic  pagan  among  those  who 
were  the  first  disciples  to  the  new  faith  preached  by  St.  John  01- 
St.  Paul.  All  else  he  accepted  with  an  implicit,  child-like  confi- 
dence not  different  from  that  which  moves  the  loyal  descendant 
of  ages  of  Catholic  ancestors.  It  was  clear  to  him  that  these 
accompanying  doctrines  and  institutions  must  have  been  enfolded 


184  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

within  the  original  germ,  and  must  be  received  on  the  same  au- 
thority, not  by  an  analytic  process  and  on  their  merits,  one  by 
one. 

What  he  wanted  was,  in  the  first  place,  sustenance  for  what  he 
invariably  calls  "the  life"  given  him  ;  and  next,  light  to  see  in  what 
way  he  was  to  put  to  use  the  strength  so  gained.  The  first  effect 
of  the  sacraments  was  what  one  might  call  the  natural  one  of 
making  more  visible  the  shadows  which  enveloped  his  path,  as  well 
as  stimulating  his  instinctive  efforts  to  pierce  through  them.  After 
the  rapturous  joy  which  succeeded  confession  and  absolution,  a 
period  of  desolation  and  dryness  heavier  than  he  had  ever  known 
at  once  set  in.  Perhaps  he  had  expected  the  very  reverse  of  this. 
At  all  events,  it  was  not  many  days  before  it  drew  from  him  the 
complaint  that  in  leaving  Concord  he  had  also  left  behind  him 
the  great  interior  sweetness  which  had  buoyed  him  up.  On 
August   1 1   he  writes  : 

"  How  hard  it  has  been  for  me  to  go  through  with  all  these 
solemn  mysteries  and  ceremonies  without  experiencing  any  of  those 
great  delights  which  I  have  [before]  felt.  Why  is  this?  Is  it  to 
try  my  faith  ?  O  Lord  !  how  long  shall  I  be  tried  in  this  season 
of  desolation?  Are  these  [delights]  never  to  return?  Have 
I  acted  unworthily  ?  What  shall  I  do  to  receive  these  blessings 
again  ?  " 

Then  he  resolves  to  make  a  novena,  fasting  the  while  on 
bread  and  water,  to  entreat  their  renewal.  But  at  once  a  better 
mood   sets  in    and   he    adds: 

"  The  highest  state  of  perfection  is  to  be  content  to  be  noth- 
ing. Lord,  give  me  strength  not  to  ask  of  Thee  anything  that 
is  pleasant  to  me.  I  renounce  what  I  have  just  asked  for,  and 
will  try  to  do  all  without  the  hope  of  recompense.  If  Thou  triest 
my  soul,  let  it  not  go  until  it  has  paid  the  uttermost  farthing." 

"August  15,  1844. — To-day  is  the  holyday  of  the  Assump- 
tion of  the  dear,  Blessed  Mary,  Mother  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus.  Oh !  may  I  be  found  worthy  of  her  regard 
and  love." 

"  He  that  has  not  learned  the  bitterness  of  the  drops  of  woe 


Yearnings  after  Contemplation.  185 


has  not  learned  to  live.  One  hour  of  deep  agony  teaches  man 
more  love  and  wisdom  than  a  whole  long  life  of  happiness.  .  . 
"In  many  faces  I  see  passing  through  the  crowded  streets 
there  seems  a  veiled  beauty,  an  angel  quickening  me  with  purer 
life  as  I  go  by  them  in  anxious  haste.  Do  we  not  see  the 
hidden  worth,  glory,  and  beauty  of  others  as  our  own  becomes 
revealed  to  us  ?  Would  the  Son  of  God  have  been  needed  to 
ransom  man  if  he  were  not  of  incomparable  value  ?  " 

One  of  the  dreams  that  at  this  time  occupied  Isaac's  mind 
was  that  of  undertaking  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome.  He  wrote  to  Henry 
Thoreau,  proposing  that  they  should  go  in  company,  and  felt 
regret  when  his  invitation  was  not  accepted.  His  notion  was  to 
"  work,  beg,  and  travel  on  foot,  so  far  as  land  goes,  to  Rome. 
I  know  of  no  pleasanter,  better  way,  both  for  soul  and  body, 
than  to  make  such  a  pilgrimage  in  the  old,  middle-age  fashion  ; 
to  suffer  hunger,  storm,  cold,  heat— all  that  can  affect  the  body 
of  flesh.  If  we  receive  hard  usage,  so  much  the  better  will 
it  be  for  us.  Why  thump  one's  own  flesh  here  ?  Let  it  be  done 
for  us  by  others,  our  soul,  meanwhile,  looking  at  higher  ob- 
jects. ...  I  feel  that  I  have  the  stuff  to  do  it  in  me.  I 
would  love  to  work  and  beg  my  way  to  Rome  if  it  cost  me  ten 
or  fifteen  years  of  my  life." 

Thoreau  replied  to  this  proposal  that  such  a  tour  had  been 
one  of  his  own  early  dreams,  but  that  he  had  outlived  it.  He 
had  now  "retired  from  all  external  activity  in  disgust,  and  his 
life  was  more  Brahminical,  Artesian-well,  Inner-Temple  like."  So 
the  scheme,  which  had  secured  Bishop  McCloskey's  approbation, 
although  he  had  forcibly  represented  to  young  Hecker  that  to  go 
absolutely  destitute  of  money,  and  dependent  for  all  things  upon 
alms,  would  be  impossible,  was  presently  shelved.  It  was  but 
one  of  the  diversions  with  which  certain  souls,  not  yet  enlightened 
as  to  their  true  course,  nor  arrived  at  the  abandonment  of  them- 
selves to  Divine  Providence,  are  amused.  Their  inactivity  seems 
idleness  to  them,  and  they  mistake  the  restless  impulse  which 
bids  them  be  up  and  doing  for  the  voice  of  conscience  or  the 
inspiration  of  heavenly  wisdom  ;  but  it  is  neither.  Sometimes  it 
is  a  superfluity  of  natural  energy  seeking  an  outlet ;  sometimes 
it  n  the  result  of  the  strain  placed  upon  nature  by  a  very  pow- 
erf  il  influx  of  grace.  The  infusion  of  power  from  above  is  often 
gi    atly  in  excess  of    the  light    necessary  for  guidance  in  its    use. 


1 86  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


This  last  rarely  comes  entirely  from  the  inner  touch  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  In  the  lives  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Desert  we  read  of  a  cer- 
tain young  brother,  Ptolemy,  who  went  astray  from  sound 
spirituality.  When  admonished  he  asserted  that  he  need  learn 
the  spiritual  life  from  none  save  the  Holy  Ghost,  of  whose  in- 
spirations any  man  of  good  will  could  be  certain.  He  was  told 
by  the  old  monks  that  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and 
the  understanding  of  the  same  are  two  distinct  things,  and  that 
this  understanding  is  disclosed  only  to  him  whose  will  has  been 
purified  by  the  practice  of  obedience  and  humility.  In  truth,  it 
is  rarely  that  the  inner  voice  of  God  does  not  call  for  an  external 
interpreter,  which,  if  it  does  no  more  than  furnish  a  divinely  au- 
thorized test  and  criterion,  is  none  the  less  necessary.  Moreover, 
the  inner  voice  seldom  provides  ways  and  means  for  its  own  pur- 
poses. Father  Hecker  was  ever  a  strenuous  defender  of  this 
inner  and  outer  unity  of  the  Divine  guidance,  and  his  vocation 
was  an  illustration  of  it.  However  masterful  the  inner  voice  of 
God  which  called  him  away  from  the  world,  he  was  helpless  till 
he  heard  its  tones  harmonized  by  the  counsel  of  Bishop  Mc- 
Closkey.  When  he  found  that  even  with  this  backing  secured, 
the  external  obstacles  to  his  plan  proved  invincible,  he  was  once 
more  nonplussed.      "  If  not  this,  what  ?  "  he  asks  himself. 

"  I  feel  deeply  and  strongly  that  the  circle  of  family  happi- 
ness is  not  sufficient  for  my  nature,  but  what  I  can  profitably 
do  outside  of  this  I   have  not  the  ability  to  say. 

"  That  our  real  wishes  are  presentiments  of  our  capabilities  is  a 
very  true  proverb,  no  doubt;  but  are  we  not  most  ignorant  of 
what  these  are  ?  It  seems  as  though  we  are  all  unconsciously 
educated  for  unknown  ends  and  purposes. 

"  I  look  upon  myself  as  belonging  to  that  class  of  decidedly 
unfortunate  beings  who  have  no  marked  talent  for  any  particu- 
lar pursuit.  The  words  talent,  genius,  have  for  me  no  applica- 
tion whatever.  I  stand  on  the  confines  of  both  worlds,  not  feel- 
ing the  necessity  nor  having  the  true  valor  to  decide  for  either 
sphere. 

"  O  heaven  !  why  was  this  deep,  ever-burning  life  given  me, 
unless  it  be  that  I  might  be  slowly  and  painfully  consumed  by 
it  ?  All  greatness  is  in  the  actor,  not  in  the  act.  He  whom 
God  has  blessed  with  an  end  in  life,  can  earnestly  labor  to 
accomplish  that  end.       But    alas  for  that  poor  mortal  whose  ex- 


Yea  rui  tigs  after  Contemplation.  187 


istence  only  serves  to  fill  up  space  in  the  world  !  How  excru- 
ciating to  him  to  be  conscious  of  this!      O   Prometheus! 

"  Simply  to  be  what  God  would  have  us,  is  to  be  greater  than 
to  have  the  applause  of  the  whole  world  otherwise.  All  such 
statements  as  this  are  necessarily  one-sided.  Because  there  arc- 
always  good  and  virtuous  men  in  the  world  whose  approbation 
is  that  of  God. 

"  There  is  an  instinct  in  man  which  draws  him  to  danger,  as 
in  battle-fields ;  as  there  is  also  in  the  fly,  drawing  it  to  the 
flame  of  light.  It  is  the  desire  of  the  spirit  within,  seeking  for 
release. ' 

"August  20,  1844. — Scarce  do  I  know  what  to  say  of  myself. 
If  I  accuse  myself  by  the  light  given  me,  it  would  lead  me  to  leave 
all  around  me.  My  conscience  thus  accuses  me.  And  in  par- 
taking of  worldly  things  and  going  into  the  company  around 
me,  my  interior  self  has  no  pleasure,  and  I  feel  afterwards  that 
the  labor  and  time  have  been  misspent.  How  to  live  a  life 
which  shall  be  conformable  to  the  life  within  and  not  separate 
from  the  persons  and  circumstances  around  me,  I  cannot  con- 
ceive. I  am  now  like  one  who  tastes  a  little  of  this  and  then 
a  little  of  that  dish,  while  his  time  is  wasted  and  his  mind  dis- 
tracted from  that  pure  enjoyment  which  is  a  foretaste  of  the  bliss 
of  the  angels.  I  feel  my  primitive  instincts  and  unvitiated  tastes 
daily  becoming  more  sensible  to  inspirations  from  above,  from  the 
invisible.  The  ideal  world,  the  soul  world,  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  within,  I  feel  as  if  I  were  more  a  friend  and  citizen  of. 
O  Lord  !  my  heart  would  break  forth  in  praise  of  the  riches  of 
the  life  given  within!  It  seems  that  in  this  that  we  enjoy  all,  know 
all,  and  possess  all.  If  we  have  Thee,  O  Lord !  if  Thou  hast 
taken  up  Thy  dwelling  in  us,  we  enjoy  heaven  within  and  para- 
dise without !" 

"August  21,  1844. — The  object  of  education  should  be  to 
place  each  individual  mind  in  vital  union  with  the  One  Univer- 
sal Educator. 

"The  only  pleasure  for  man  is  his  union  with  a  priori  prin- 
ciples." 

"August  23,  1844. — If  the  animal  passions  are  indulged,  of 
course    you    must    pay  the    cost.      If    you    get  a  large    family  of 


!88  The  Life  of  Father  Heckcr. 


children  about  you,  and  please  your  animal  appetites  with  all 
sorts  of  luxury,  and  indulge  your  pride  in  all  the  foolish  fashions 
of  show,  do  not  wonder  that  it  cost  all  your  time  to  uphold 
such  an  expensive  life.  This  is  necessary,  unless  you  cheat  some 
one  else  out  of  the  hard-earned  value  of  his  labor.  I  cannot 
conceive  how  a  Christian,  under  the  present  arrangements,  can 
become  wealthy  without  violating  repeatedly  the  precepts  of  his 
religion. 

"  Where  shall  we  find  God  ?     Within. 

"  How   shall  we   hear   the  voices  of  angels  ?     Listen   with   the 

inward   ear. 

"When    are    we    with    God?      When    we    are    no    more    with 

ourselves. 

"  When    do    we    hear    the    music    of   heaven  ?     When    we    are 

entirely  silent. 

"  What  is  the  effect  of  sin  ?     Confusion. 

"Where  does  God  dwell?     In  silence. 

"  Who  loves  God  ?     He  who  knows  nothing  and    loves  noth- 
ing  of  himself. 

"  What  is  prayer  ?     The  breath  of  silence. 

"  What  is  love  ?     The  motion  of  the  pure  will. 

"  What  is  light  ?     The  shadow  of  love. 

"  What  is  force  ?     The  power  of  love. 

"  Where  does  God  dwell  ?     Where  there  is  peace. 

"  Who    is   most    like    God  ?     He   who    knows    he  is    the  least 
like   Him.  y 

"  What  is  the  innermost  of  all  ?     Stillness. 

"  Who  is  the  purest  ?     He  who  is  most  beyond  temptation. 

"  What  is  the  personality  of  man  ?     The  absolute  negation  of 

God. 

"  What  is  God  ?     The  absolute  affirmation  in  man. 
"What  is  it  to  know?     It  is  to  be  ignorant. 
"What  should  we  desire?     Not  to  desire. 
"What  is  the  most  positive  answer?     Silence. 
"What  is  the  truest?     That  which  cannot  be  proven." 

"August  25,  1844. — In  silence,  suffering  without  murmuring. 
An  eternal  thirst,  enduring  without  being  quenched.  Infinite 
longings  without  being  met.  Heart  ever  burning,  never  re- 
freshed.     Void    within    and    mystery    all    around.      Ever    escaping 


Yearnings  after  Contemplation.  189 


that  which  we  would  reach.  Tortured  incessantly  without  relief. 
Alone — bereft  of  God,  angels,  men— all.  Hopes  gone,  fears  van- 
ished, and  love  dead  within.  These,  and  more  than  these,  must 
man  suffer." 

"August  28,  1844. — Is  it  not  because  I  have  been  too  much 
engaged  in  reading  and  paid  too  little  attention  to  the  centre 
that  I  have  lost  myself,  as  it  were?  My  position  here  distracts 
my  attention  and  I  lose  the  delight,  intimate  knowledge,  and 
sweet  consciousness  of  my  interior  life.  How  can  this  be  reme- 
died ?  I  am  constantly  called  off  to  matters  in  which  I  have  no 
relish;  and  if  I  retreat  for  a  short  time,  they  rest  on  me  like  a 
load,  so  that  I  cannot  call  myself  free  at  any  moment.  I  see 
the  case  as  it  stands,  and  feel  I  am  losing  my  interior  life  from 
the  false  position  in  which  I  am  placed. 

"The  human  ties  and  the  material  conditions  in  which  I  am 
should  unquestionably  be  sacrificed  to  the  divine  interior  rela- 
tion to  the  One,  the  Love-Spirit,  which,  alas  !  I  have  so  sensibly 
felt.  Can  a  man  live  in  the  world  and  follow  Christ?  I  know 
not;  but,  as  for  me,  I  find  it  impossible.  I  feel  more  and  more 
the  necessity  of  leaving  the  society  and  the  distracting  cares  of  a 
city  business  for  a  silent  and  peaceful  retreat,  to  the  end  that  I 
may  restore  the  life  I  fear  I  am  losing.  Our  natural  in- 
terests should  be  subject  to  our  human  ties ;  our  human  ties 
to  our  spiritual  relations  ;  and  who  is  he  who  brings  all  these 
into  divine  harmony  ? 

"  How  shall  I  make  the  sacrifice  which  shall  accomplish  the 
sole  end  I  have,  and  should  have,  in  view  ?  Thrice  have  I  left 
home  for  this  purpose,  and  each  time  have  returned  unavoidably 
— so,  at  least,  it  seems  to  me.  Once  more,  I  trust,  will  prove  a 
permanent  and  immovable  trial." 

To  some,  a  most  striking  incidental  proof  of  his  inaptitude 
for  the  ordinary  layman's  life,  is  found  in  the  subjoined  extract 
from  the  memoranda.  Speaking  of  this  period,  Father  Hecker 
said  : 

"  Some  time  after  my  reception  into  the  Church,  I  went  to 
Bishop  McCloskey  and  told  him  I  had  scruples  against  rent- 
ing a  seat  in  the  Cathedral  in  Mott  Street.  '  If  I  do,'  I  said, 
T  shall  feel  sore  at  the  thought  that  I  have  set  apart  for  me  in 
the  house  of    God  a  seat  which  a  poor  man  cannot  use.'     I  told 


190  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


him  that  for  this  reason  I  had  knelt  down  near  the  doorway, 
among  the  crowd  of.'  transient  poor  people.  Oh,  how  he  eased 
my  spirit  by  sympathizing  with  my  sentiment,  and  satisfied  me 
by  declaring  that  the  renting  of  pews  was  only  from  necessity, 
and  he  wished  we  could  get  along  without  it." 

His  relations  with  some  of  his  former  friends  at  Brook  Farm 
still  continued,  though  in  a  somewhat  attenuated  condition. 
From  a  long  and  appreciative  letter  sent  him  by  Burrill  Curtis, 
we  make  an  extract,  followed    by  Isaac's  comments  on  it: 

"■October  13,  1844. — Your  preparedness  for  any  fate  has  been 
one  of  the  chief  attractions  of  your  character  to  me,  for  I  be- 
lieve it  is  deeper  than  a  mere  state  of  mind.  But,  for  all  that, 
your  restlessness  is  uppermost  just  now  ;  not  as  a  contradictory 
element,  for  it  is  not;    but  as  a  discovering  power." 

Isaac's  journal,  just  at  this  time,  was  chiefly  devoted  to  what 
he  calls  "the  many  smaller,  venial  sins  which  beset  my  path  and 
keep  me  down  to  earth.  Also  to  prescribe  such  remedies  as 
may  seem  to  me  best  for  these  thorns  in  the  flesh"  On  Octo- 
ber 26  he  notes  that  he  has  received  the  letter  just  quoted,  and 
remarks  : 

"  It  showed  more  regard  for  me  than  I  thought  he  had.  The 
truth  is,  I  do  not  feel  myself  worthy  to  be  the  friend  of  any 
one,  and  would  pass  my  life  in  being  a  friend  to  all,  without 
recognizing  their  friendship  towards  me. 

"To-day  I  have  felt  more   humanly  tender    than    ever.     The 

past    has    come    up     before    me     with     much    emotion.      

has  been  much  in  my  thoughts. 

"  I  have  experienced  those  unnatural  feelings  which  I  have 
felt  heretofore.  I  feel  that  the  spirit  world  is  near  and  glimmer- 
in"-  all  around  me.  The  nervous  shocks  I  have  been  subject  to, 
but  which  I  have  not  experienced  for  some  time  back,  recurred 
this  evening.  I  am  known  to  spirits,  or  else  I  apprehend 
them." 

He  had  taken  up  Latin  and  Greek  again,  and  seems  to  have 
entered  a  class  of  young  men  under  the  tutorship  of  a  Mr. 
Owen.     The  entry  just  quoted  from  goes  on  as  follows  : 

"  I  do  not  devote  as    much  time  to  study  as  I  should,  or  as 


Yearnings  after  Contemplation.  191 


I  might.  I  fear  I  shall  never  make  anything  of  my  studies.  I 
do  not  endeavor  with  all  my  might.  This  study  has  thrown  me 
into  another  sphere.  I  like  it  not.  I  feel  apprehensive  of  some- 
thing, of  somewhat.  Ten  years  from  now  will  fix  my  destiny,  if 
I  have  any." 

Much  irood  as  ho  continued  to  receive  from  the  sacrament  of 
penance,  he  found  a  not  altogether  usual  difficulty  in  pre- 
paring for  i<\  Perhaps  it  was  in  the  counsel  he  received 
there  that  he  got  courage  to  gird  himself  for  his  renewed  attack 
upon  the  languages,  for  his  delinquencies  in  this  respect  have 
the  air  of  being  the  most  tangible  of  the  matters  on  his  con- 
science. 

"  I  must  prepare  for  confession  this  week,"  he  writes  on 
November  5,  1844.  "Oh!  would  that  I  could  accuse  myself  as 
I  should.  Man  is  not  what  he  should  be  so  long  as  he  is  not  an 
angel.  Oh,  dear  God  !  give  me  Thy  aid,  and  help  me  in  my 
weaknesses.  What  sins  can  I  accuse  myself  of  now  ?  First — oh, 
Love !  give  me  light  to  accuse  myself — to  see  my  sins.  This  is 
my  greatest  sin ;    that  I  cannot  accuse  mj>sc/f  and  am  so  wicked. 

"  Each  day  I  omit  a  hundred  duties  that  I  should  not. 
Lord,  give  me  Thy  Spirit,  that  I  may  be  humble,  meek,  and 
sweet  in  all  my  walk  and  conversation.  Fill  my  heart  with 
Thy  love." 

In  a  little  while  he  found  himself  able  to  study  more  diligently, 
and  though  he  continually  regrets  the  inroad  this  makes  upon 
his  interior  life,  he  seems  not  only  to  have  persevered,  but  to 
have  taken  considerable  interest  and  an  active  part  in  the  de- 
bates got  up  at  regular  intervals  by  the  class  he  had  joined. 
He  notes  that  he  has  serious  doubts  whether  it  will  be  wise  for 
him  to  express  his  full  mind  on  some  of  the  subjects  brought  up. 
His  fellow-pupils  were  all  Protestants,  and  some  of  them  well- 
informed  and  talented  young  men.  His  views  would  be  new  to 
them,  and  so  would  many  of  his  authorities  for  his  statements  of 
fact,  and  he  thought  it  not  unlikely  that  a  commotion  might 
sometimes  be  raised  which  would  not  at  all  commend  itself  to  the 
teacher  of  the  institution.  He  concluded,  however,  to  throw 
prudence  to  the  winds,  and  on  controverted  points  to  express 
his  sentiments  freely  and  frankly.  There  were  some  animated 
discussions,  no  doubt. 


192  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


He  was  endeavoring  at  this  time  to  retrench  his  hours  of 
sleep  to  the  narrowest  dimensions  compatible  with  health,  and 
found  it,  we  may  note,  the  most  difficult  of  his  austerities.  In 
other  respects  they  remained  severe,   as  this  entry   may  witness : 

"  November  27,  1844. — I  am  sorely  perplexed  what  to  eat. 
Nuts,  apples,  and  bread  seem  not  a  diet  wholly  suitable,  and 
what  to  add  I  know  not.  Potatoes  are  not  good  ;  I  think  they 
were  the  cause  of  my  illness  last  week.  I  do  not  wish  to  par- 
take of  anything  that  comes  even  remotely  from  an  animal. 
Cooking,  also,  I  wish,  as  far  as  possible,  to  dispense  with.  / 
would  I  could  dispense  with  the  whole  digestive  apparatus ! 
Cheese,  butter,  eggs,  milk,  are  for  many  reasons  not  a  part  of 
my  diet." 

The  balance  of  this  fourth  volume  of  his  diary,  begun  Sep- 
tember 9,  1844,  and  ended  January  2,  1845,  's  mainly  occupied 
with  addresses  to  his  guardian  angel.  He  was,  as  those  who 
knew  him  will  remember,  always  extremely  devout  to  the 
angelic  choirs.      On  his  birthday  this  year  he    writes    as  follows : 

"December  18,  1844. — Let  me  look  back  for  a  few  moments 
and  see  where  I  stood  last  year  this  time  (an  incomprehensible 
length),  and  where  I  now  stand.  Then  my  path  was  dim,  un- 
fixed, unsettled.  Then  I  was  not  so  disentangled  from  the  body 
and  its  desires  as,  I  hope  in  God,  I  now  am.  In  all  I  feel  a 
consciousness  that  since  then  I  have  spiritually  grown — been 
transformed.  For  my  present  I  cannot  speak.  For  my  future, 
it  seems  I  dare  not  speak.  . 

"  Dreams  of  the  future  !  Exalted  visions  !  Beautiful,  unspeak- 
able hopes !  Deep,  inarticulate  longings  that  fill  the  conscious 
soul !  Ah  !  so  sweet,  so  harmonious,  so  delightful,  like  an  angel, 
like  the  bride  of  the  pure  and  bright  soul  adorned  for  the  nuptials, 
do  I  see  the  future  beckoning  me  with  a  clear,  transparent  smile 
onward  to  her  presence.  '  Ah ! '  rny  soul  would  say,  '  we  will 
meet,  for  I  am  in  thy  presence,  and  faithful  in  God  may  heaven 
grant  me  to  be.'  The  beauty,  the  grace,  the  love,  the  sweetness  that 
attract  me,  are  beyond  all  comparison.  Ah  !  thou  eternal,  ever- 
blooming  virgin,  the  Future,  shall  I  ever  embrace  thee  ?  Shall 
I  ever  see  thee  nearer  to  my  heart  ?  I  look  at  myself  and  I  am 
bowed  down  low  in  grief ;  but  when  I  cast  my  eyes  up  to  thee, 
in  seeing  thee  I  am  lost.     The    grace    and    beauty  I  see  in  thee 


Yearnings  after  Contemplation.  193 

passes  into  my  soul,  and  I  am  all  that  thou  art.  I  am  then 
wedded  to  thee,  and  I  would  that  it  were  an  eternal  union. 
But  ah  !  my  eyes,  when  turned  upon  myself,  lose  all  sight  of  thee, 
and  meet  nothing  but  my  own  spots  and  blemishes.  How  canst 
thou  love  me  ?  I  say  ;  and  for  thy  pure  love  I  am  melted  into 
thee  as  one." 

He  continues  : 

"  Lord,  let  me  speak  of  my  many  and  grievous  sins  ;  but  oh ! 
when  I  would  do  so,  my  mouth  speaks  nothing  forth  but  Thy 
praises. 

"  I  would  offer  my  whole  soul  afresh  to  all  that  is,  for  the 
sake  of  the  love  of  God.  .  .  .  Lord,  I  am  Thine,  for  Thou 
dost  teach  me  this  by  Thy  unutterable,  ever-present  love." 

"January  3. — Last  Saturday  my  confessor  was  not  at  home 
when  I  called.  I  have  waited  until  this  morning,  the  Saturday 
following.  It  is  sad  to  me  to  wait  to  partake  of  the  Blessed 
Sacrament.  How  much  joy,  love,  and  sweetness  it  is  to  the  soul ! 
I  feel  my  soul  to  glow  again  with  renewed  love  when  I  have 
partaken  of  the  blessed  communion  of  Christ.  This  is  my  spiritual 
food.  It  is  the  goodness,  mercy,  and  love  of  God  which  keeps 
me  from  sadness." 


CHAPTER    XX 

FROM     NEW    YORK    TO     ST.    TROND. 

ISAAC  HECKER'S  zeal  for  social  reform  lent  force  to  his 
strictly  personal  cravings  for  a  more  religious  life ;  he  longed 
for  wider  scope  than  individual  effort  could  possibly  bestow,  and 
also  for  a  supernatural  point  of  vantage.  "  If  we  would  do  hu- 
manity any  good,"  he  writes  in  his  diary  while  considering  his 
vocation,  "  we  must  act  from  grounds  higher  than  humanity  ;  our 
standpoint  must  be  above  the  race,  otherwise  how  can  we  act  upon 
humanity  ?  "  He  also  speaks  of  the  fundamental  necessity  of  "an 
impulse  of  divine  love "  actuating  the  reformer  of  social  evils. 
He  addresses  himself  thus  :  "If  thou  wouldst  move  the  race  to 
greater  good  and  higher  virtue,  lose  thyself  in  the  Universal.  Be 
so  great  as  to  give  thyself  to  something  nobler  than  thyself  if 
thou  wouldst  be  ennobled,  immortalized."  In  many  pages  of  the 
last  two  volumes  of  his  diary  these  notes  of  sympathetic  love  for 
his  fellow-men  are  mingled  with  yearnings  for  solitude.  "  This 
book,"  he  writes  on  the  last  page  of  one  of  them,  "  has  answered 
some  little  purpose ;  for  when  I  wanted  to  speak  to  some  one 
and  yet  was  alone,  it  cost  me  no  labor  to  scribble  in  it.  It 
would  give  me  great  pleasure  if  I  had  a  friend  who  would  ex- 
change such  thoughts  with  me."  He  was  soon  to  enter  into  that 
spiritual  heritage  which  among  its  other  treasures  bestows  the 
beatitude  of  the  sage,  "  Blessed  is  the  man  who  hath  found  a 
true  friend." 

Little  by  little  a  distinctly  penitential  mood  came  over  him, 
and  it  occupies  nearly  the  whole  of  the  last  volume  of  the  diary 
with  the  most  unreserved  expressions  of  grief  for  sin,  or,  rather, 
for  a  state  of  sinfulness,  since  the  specific  mention  of  sins  is 
nearly  altogether  wanting.  We  meet  with  page  after  page  of 
self-accusation  in  general  terms  :  "  I  am  in  want  of  greater  love 
for  those  around  me ;  I  perform  my  spiritual  duties  too  negli- 
gently ;  too  little  of  my  time  is  devoted  to  spiritual  exercises.  I 
feel  all  over  sick  with  sin  !  Here  is  my  difficulty,  O  Lord,  and 
do  Thou  direct  me  :  I  am  always  in  doubt,  when  I  do  not 
think  of  Thee  alone,  that  I  am  sinning  and  that  my  time  is 
misspent." 

His    protestations    of  sorrow    are    extremely  fervent  and  very 

numerous;     and  as  the  Lent  of    1845   approached  he  records  his 

194 


From  New   York  to  St.    Trond.  195 

purpose  of  restricting  himself  to  one  meal  a  day.  As  he  never  ate 
meat,  nor  any  "  product  of  animal  life,"  and  drank  only  water, 
his  "  nuts,  bread,  and  apples  "  once  a  day  must  have  been  his 
diet  all  through  the  penitential  season.  The  reader  will  remem- 
ber ein  herrliches  Essen  at  Concord:  "bread,  maple-sugar,  and 
apples." 

In  the  middle  of  February  he  opened  his  mind  more  fully  to 
Bishop  McCloskey,  whom  he  continually  calls  his  spiritual  direc- 
tor. He  had  now  to  reveal  the  discoveries  of  holy  penance,  and 
to  add  to  his  other  motives  for  leaving  the  world  the  dread  of 
falling  into  mortal  sin.  He  had,  he  tells  us,  misgivings  as  to 
whether  he  was  ambitious  or  not.  One  of  his  spiritual  states  he 
thus  alludes  to  : 

"  I  will  ask  my  confessor  how  it  is — if  it  is  so  with  others, 
that  they  feel  no  sense  of  things,  no  joy,  no  reality,  no  emo- 
tion, no  impulse,  nothing  positive  within  or  around,"  but  only 
the  consciousness  of  the  need  of  a  terrible  atonement.  This  is 
accompanied  by  frantic  prayers  to  God,  invocations  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  St.  Francis  of  Assisi  and  other  saints.  And  he  says 
that  he  has  been  told  that  he  is  scrupulous,  and  complains  that 
at  confession    he  can  only  accuse  himself  in  general  terms. 

Complete  abandonment  to  the  divine  will  seems  to  have  been 
the  outcome  ot  a  season  of  much  distress  of  soul,  and  bodily 
mortification.  On  April  2  he  writes:  "The  last  time  I  saw  my 
director  he  spoke  to  me  concerning  the  sacred  ministry,  and  this 
is  a  subject  I  feel  an  unspeakable  difficulty  about.  I  told  him 
that  I  desired  to  place  myself  wholly  in  his  hands  and  should  do 
whatever  he  directed.  I  do  not  wish  to  be  any  more  than  noth- 
ing. I  give  myself  up.  So  far  the  Lord  seems  to  be  with  me, 
and  I  hope  that  He  will    not    forsake  me  in   the   future." 

As  might  have  been  anticipated,  Bishop  McCloskey's  advice 
was  wise.  Plainly,  his  own  hope  was  that  young  Hecker  should 
enter  the  secular  priesthood,  but  there  is  no  evidence  in  the  nu- 
merous references  to  the  matter  in  the  diary,  that  this  caused 
him  to  do  more  chan  make  his  young  friend  fully  acquainted 
with  that  state  of  life.  He  had  him  call  at  the  newly-opened 
diocesan  seminary  at  Fordham  and  become  acquainted  with  the 
professors.  Bishop  Hughes,  whom  he  also  consulted,  urged  him 
to  go  to  St.  Sulpice  in  Paris,  and  to  the  Propaganda  in  Rome,  and 


196  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker 


make  his  studies  for  the  secular  priesthood.  But  they  failed  to 
win  him  to  their  opinion,  and  were  too  enlightened  to  seek  to  influ- 
ence him  except  by  argument.  Father  Hecker  ever  held  the  very- 
highest  views  on  the  dignity  of  the  priesthood,  considering  its 
vocation  second  to  none.  But  while  he  was  irresistibly  inclined 
to  a  state  of  retirement  quite  incompatible  with  the  duties  of  the 
secular  priesthood  in  America,  he  also  felt  the  most  urgent  need 
of  constant  advice  and  companionship  for  guidance  in  his  inte- 
rior life.  These  seemingly  contradictory  requirements  he  hoped 
to  find  united  in  a  religious  community,  and  Bishop  McCloskey 
emphatically  assured  him  that  his  anticipations  would  not  be 
disappointed.  In  addition  to  this,  Isaac  Hecker  had  at  least 
some  premonitions  of  an  apostolic  vocation  calling  for  a  wider 
range  of  activity  than  can  be  usually  compassed  by  the  diocesan 
clergy.  But  we  have  often  heard  him  say  that  the  immediate 
impulse  which  induced  his  application  to  be  made  a  Redemp- 
torist  was  need  of  "  intimate  and  careful  spiritual  guidance." 

His  director  therefore  became  satisfied  that  he  should  become 
a  religious,  and  turned  his  attention  to  the  Society  of  Jesus,  giv- 
ing him  the  lives  of  St.  Ignatius  and  St.  Francis  Xavner  to 
read,  and,  doubtless,  answered  his  inquiries  about  that  order. 
"  But,"  he  said  in  after  years,  "I  had  no  vocation  to  teach  young 
boys  and  felt  unfitted  for  a  student's  life " ;  added  to  this  was 
the  certainty  of  the  postponement  of  any  public  activity  on  his 
part  for  many  years  if  he  became  a  Jesuit. 

After  mentioning  that  he  had  read  the  life  of  St.  Francis 
Xavier,  he  says  that  an  acquaintance  had  written  him  that  a 
German  priest,  living  in  Third  Street,  wanted  to  see  him.  This  was 
one  of  the  Redemptorist  Fathers  who  were  newly  established  in 
the  city.  This  priest,  whose  name  is  not  given,  undertook  to  as- 
sume direction  of  Isaac,  and  was  very  urgent  with  him  to  make 
a  spiritual  retreat  with  a  view  to  deciding  his  vocation.  "  He  is 
a  very  zealous  person — too  much  so  it  seems  to  me,"  is  the 
comment  in  the  diary,  and  the  answer  was  a  refusal.  But  what 
he  saw  in  the  community  pleased  and  attracted  Isaac,  for  every- 
thing was  poor  and  plain,  and  there  was  an  air  of  solitude. 
However,  he  womd  by  no  means  change  his  spiritual  adviser, 
writing,  "  I  strive  to  follow  my  spiritual  director  or  else  I  should 
be  fearful  of  my  state.  All  my  difficulties,  sins,  and  temptations 
I  make  him  acquainted  with.  .  .  .  Though  the  world  has  no 
particular  hold  upon  me,  I  give  it  up  once  and  for  all.      It  gives 


From  Xcii.<    York  to  St.    Trond.  197 

me  pain  to  feci  my  perfect    want  of    faith  in  myself  as  being    in 
any  way  useful." 

Meantime,  on  Trinity  Sunday,  he  had  been  confirmed  with 
his  brother  George,  whose  entrance  into  the  Church  is  here  first 
indicated ;  no  other  member  of  the  family  became  a  Catholic. 
Isaac  took  the  additional  name  of  Thomas  on  receiving  this  sac- 
rament, in  honor  of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas. 

Again  he  writes  : 

"  I  have  tried  to  study  to-day,  but  I  cannot.  Is  it  not  the 
business  of  man  to  save  his  own  soul,  and  this  before  all  things  ? 
Does  the  study  of  Greek  and  Latin  help  a  soul  towards  its  sal- 
vation ?  Is  it  not  quite  a  different  thing  from  grace  ?  Sometimes 
I  feel  strongly  inclined  to  set  aside  all  study,  all  reading,  as  su- 
perficial and  not  so  important  as  contemplation  and  silence." 

The  time  was  coming  when  the  Holy  Spirit  would  do  this  in 
spite  of  him  and  in  a  way  the  reverse  of  pleasant.  Meantime  he 
worked  away  at  his  books  and  attended  his  classes  at  Cornelius 
Institute,  which  was  the  name  of  the  private  school  he  had  been 
attending,  till  July  16,  the  commencement  day.  In  recording 
his  impressions  of  the  school  and  the  acquaintances  there  made, 
he  says  that  with  one  possible  exception  the  young  men  were  of 
little  interest  to  him,  lacking  earnestness  of  character.  He  does 
not  name  the  teachers  or  give  the  location  of  the  school.  Yet  he 
says  his  experience  there  had  been  useful  "  and  chastened  my 
hopes.  I  have  seen  by  means  of  it  much  more  clearly  into  the 
workings  of  Protestantism,  its  want  of  deep  spirituality,  its  su- 
perficiality, and  its  inevitable  tendency  to   no-religion." 

As  may  be  supposed,  his  visits  to  Third  Street  became  fre- 
quent, and  his  acquaintance  with  the  Fathers  better  established. 
This  was  especially  true  with  regard  to  Father  Rumpler,  who 
was  rector  of  the  house,  a  learned  and  able  man  and  one 
of  mature  spirituality.  He  was  a  German  born  and  bred,  with 
the  hard  ideas  of  discipline  peculiar  to  a  class  of  his  country- 
men though  foreign  to  the  genuine  German  character.  He  im- 
pressed young  Hecker  as  a  sedate  man,  wise  and  firm.  The 
friendship  then  begun  was  maintained  until  Father  Rumpler  was 
deprived  of  his  reason  by  an  attack  of  acute  mania  several  years 
later.  But  more  than  the  friendship  of  Rumpler,  as  far  as  im- 
mediate   results    were    concerned,   was    the    providential    circum- 


igS  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


stance  of  two  other  young  Americans  having  applied  to  join  the 
Redemptorists.  To  Isaac  this  was  a  stimulant  of  no  ordinary 
power.  Like  himself,  they  vvere  converts  and  very  fervent  ones ; 
but,  unlike  him,  they  had  come  into  the  Church  from  Episco- 
palianism.  Clarence  A.  Walworth,  son  of  the  Chancellor  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  was  a  graduate  of  Union  College.  He 
studied  law  in  Albany  and  practised  his  profession  for  a  short 
time,  but  finally  undertook  the  ministry.  After  three  years  in 
the  Episcopal  seminary  he  became  a  Catholic.  Those  who  know 
him  now  can  see  the  tall  and  graceful  youth,  pleasing  and 
kindly,  with  the  face  and  voice  and  soul  of  an  orator  ;  for  the 
force  and  charm  of  youth  have  not  been  weakened  in  receiving 
the  dignity  of  old  age. 

James  A.   McMaster  was  of  Pennsylvania  Scotch-Irish  parent- 
age.     His  name  is  familiar  to  our  readers  as  editor  of  the  Free- 
man s    Journal.       Those    qualities  of  aggressive  zeal  which  made 
McMaster    so    well    known    to    Catholics    of   our    day    were    not 
wholly  undeveloped  in  the  tall,  angular  youth,  still  a  catechumen, 
and  intoxicated  with    the    new  wine    of   Catholic  fervor.      Young 
Mr.  Walworth  had  been    made    a    Catholic  but  a  short  time  be- 
fore, and    McMaster    was    received    into   the    Church  by  the  Re- 
demptorists in  Third  Street,  his  two  young  friends  being  present. 
While    he    was  kneeling    at    the    altar,    candle    in    hand,   piously 
reading  his  profession  of  faith  to  Father  Rumpler,  he  accidentally 
set    fire    to    Father  Tschenhens'  hair,    one  of  the    fathers    assist- 
•  ing  at  the  ceremony.     Walking    together  afterwards  in    the  little 
garden  of  the  convent,  Father  Rumpler  said  to  him  :    "  Mr.   Mc- 
Master, you  begin  well — setting  fire  to  a  priest."    "  Oh,''  answered 
he,    "  if  I  don't  set  fire  to  something  more  than  that  it  will   be  a 
pity."     These  new  friends  of  Isaac  had  applied  to  enter  the   Re- 
demptorist  novitiate  and  they  had  been  accepted.     Tnis    meant  a 
voyage  to  Europe,   for  the    congregation  had  not  yet  established 
a    novitiate  in  America. 

One  Friday,  then,  during  the  last  days  of  July — the  exact 
date  we  have  not  been  able  to  discover — Isaac  Hecker  was  in- 
formed by  Father  Rumpler  that  Walworth  and  McMaster  would 
sail  for  Belgium  the  evening  of  the  next  day.  "I  decided  to 
join  them,"  he  said  when  relating  the  circumstances  afterwards. 
"Father  Rumpler  was  favorable,  but  puzzled.  And  I  must 
first  present  myself  to  the  Provincial,  Father  de  Held,  who 
was    in     Baltimore.       I    arrived    in    Baltimore     at    four     o'clock 


From  New    York  to  St.    Trond.  199 


in  the  morning  on  Saturday,  travelling  all  night.  Father  de 
Held  looked  at  me,  as  I  presented  myself,  and  said  that  he 
must  take  time  to  consider.  I  explained  about  the  departure  of 
the  others  that  day.  He  ordered  Brother  Michael  to  get  me 
a  bowl  of  coffee  from  the  kitchen,  and  me  to  hear  his  Mass.  I 
heard  the  Mass  and  after  that  he  examined  me  a  little — asked 
me  to  read  out  of  the  Following  of  Christ  in  Latin,  which  I 
did.  He  gave  me  my  acceptance,  and  I  rushed  back  to  New 
York  by  the  half- past  eight  o'clock  morning  train.  George  had 
packed  my  trunk,  and  I   sailed  that  day  with  the  others." 

The  picturesqueness  of  the  group  was  certainly  not  lessened 
by  the  accession  of  Isaac  Hecker,  whose  leap  to  and  from 
Baltimore,  though  hardly  to  be  expected  from  a  contemplative, 
was  in  accord  with  the  sudden  energy  of  his  nature.  One  who 
saw  him  at  the  time  says  that  "  he  had  the  general  make-up  of 
a  transcendalist,  not  excepting  his  long  hair  flowing  down  on  his 
neck." 

The  ship  was  an  American  one  named  the  Argo,  and  she 
was  bound  for  London.  The  voyage  was  every  way  pleasant, 
lasting  but  twenty-five  days  from  land  to  land,  with  bright  skies, 
quiet  sea,  and  fair  winds.  Their  berths  were  in  the  waist  of  the 
ship,  in  the  second  cabin,  all  the  places  in  the  first  cabin  hav- 
ing been  taken  ;  this  pleased  them  well,  for  they  loved  the  poor 
man's  lot.  Isaac's  passage  money  was  paid  by  his  brothers,  and 
he  was  supplied  by  them  and  his  mother  with  all  sorts  of  con- 
veniences; and  these,  of  course,  he  made  to  conduce  to  the 
comfort  of  the  entire  party.  .The  lower  and  larger  berth  of  their 
little  state-room  was  occupied  by  Walworth  and  McMaster,  and 
Isaac  took  the  upper  and  smaller  one.  None  of  them  suffered 
from  sea  sickness. 

The  young  pilgrims  were  overflowing  with  happiness,  as  if 
they  were  going  to  the  enjoyment  of  a  rich  heritage,  as,  indeed, 
in  a  spiritual  sense  they  were.  It  was  a  first  voyage  to  the  Old 
World  for  all  of  them  and  they  found  everything  interesting. 
They  made  friends  with  the  crew,  who  were  nearly  all  Yankee 
sailors,  and  who  struck  them  as  exactly  like  themselves,  except 
that  the)'  were  not  religious  ;  and  they  sought  entertainment  with 
such  of  the  passengers  as  were  congenial,  though  in  this  Isaac 
Hecker  was  more  ready  than  his  companions.  Father  Walworth 
tells  an  incident  characteristic  of  both  himself  and  his  transcendental 
companion.      He  was  admonishing  young  Hecker  to  be  more   reti- 


200  The  Life  of  Father  Hcckcr. 


cent  among  the  crew  and  was  asked  why.  "  You  wouldn't  like 
to  kneel  down  and  kiss  the  deck  before  all  those  sailors,"  said 
Walworth.  "Why  not?"  was  the  reply.  "Then  do  it." 
And  down  dropped  Hecker  to  the  deck  and  kissed  it  in  all 
simplicity. 

They  had  many  topics  of  interest  to  occupy  their  time ;  Isaac 
favored  such  as  were  philosophical  and  social,  his  companions 
were  absorbed  by  the  Tractarian  movement,  its  phases  of  thought 
and  variety  of  persons,  and  all  must  have  had  much  to  tell  of 
friends  and  relatives  whom  they  hoped  soon  to  see  members  of 
the  Church.  One  night  the  harmony  with  their  fellow-passen- 
gers was  threatened  with  rupture.  They  were  much  annoyed  by 
a  violent  dispute  about  the  Trinity  carried  on  in  the  adjoining 
cabin  far  into  the  night.  McMaster  finally  lost  patience,  sprang 
out  of  bed,  rushed  among  the  disputants,  and  smote  the  table 
with  a  tremendous  blow  and  shouted  "Silence!'  His  remedy 
was  efficacious ;    the  theologians  scattered  and  went  to  bed. 

There  was  a  marked  difference  between  Isaac  and  his  com- 
panions in  controversial  views.  All  three  used  their  reason  with 
the  utmost  activity,  but  he  had  travelled  into  the  Church  by 
the  road  of  philosophy  and  they  by  that  of  history  and  Scripture. 
Their  conversation  must  have  been  the  exchange  of  intellectual 
commodities  of  very  different  kinds  and  for  that  reason  expediting 
a  busy  commerce.  They  could  profit  by  his  bold  and  original 
views  of  principle  and  he  was  in  need  of  their  idea  of  the  exter- 
nal integrity  of  organized  religion.  Then,  too,  they  had  much  to 
say  of  the  future,  chiefly  by  way  of  conjecture,  for  no  member  of 
the  order  accompanied  them.  No  one  was  superior  and  no  su- 
perior was  needed.  As  to  devotional  exercises  each  suited  him- 
self, kneeling  down  and  saying  his  prayers  night  and  morning 
and  at  other  times,  in  his  own   way  and  words. 

There  was  also  difference  in  matters  of  devotion,  for  Isaac 
,  Hecker  had  little  or  no  religious  training,  and  as  to  the  tradi- 
tional forms  of  religious  practice  he  was  very  backward.  The 
others  had  long  since  familiarized  themselves  with  all  Catholic 
usages.  Young  Walworth  taught  young  Hecker  how  to  say  the 
rosary  and  initiated  him,  doubtless,  into  other  common  practices, 
which  he  assumed  with  the  simplicity  and  docility  of  the  child 
of  guileless  nature    that  he  was. 

The  ship,  as    we    have    said,  was  bound  to  London,  but    our 
party  were  too  impatient  to  wait  till  the  end  of  the  voyage  and 


From  Ncic    York  to  St.    Trond.  201 

left  her  at  Portsmouth  in  the  pilot's  boat;  the  sea  was  running 
high,  but  so  were  their  spirits,  and  although  the  boat  was  tossed 
about  in  a  way  to  scare  a  landsman,  they  gladly  went  ashore 
and  took  the  cars  to  London.  We  have  before  us  a  letter  from 
Isaac  Hecker  to  his  brothers,  dated  the  29th  of  August,  saying 
that  they  had  been  in  London  three  days  after  a  pleasant  voy- 
age, and  expressing  deep  joy  at  nearing  the  place  of  retirement 
and  prayer  for  which  he  had  been  longing.  He  asks  them  to 
write  to  Brownson  and  especially  to  assure  his  mother  of  his 
happiness 

McMaster  insisted  on  visiting  Newman  at  Littlemore,  and 
afterwards  gave  a  glowing  account  of  his  visit.  He  had  been  re- 
ceived by  the  great  man,  who  did  not  enter  the  Church  till  a  few 
months  later,  with  the  utmost  kindness.  He  found  him  standing 
in  his  library,  reading  a  book.  He  asked  many  questions  about 
the  tendency  of  men's  minds  in  America,  and  was  especially  in- 
terested in  Arthur  Carey,  with  whose  influence  among  American 
Episcopalians  and  early  death  the  reader  has  been  made  ac- 
quainted. They  lodged  at  a  decent  little  inn  over  a  pastry  cook's 
shop  and  did  not  go  sight-seeing  to  any  extent.  McMaster's  com- 
panions did  not  wait  for  his  return  from  Oxford,  but  when  the 
packet  sailed  for  Antwerp,  which  was  Sunday,  the  30th  of  Au- 
gust, they  went  down  to  Folkestone  and  took  passage.  They  ar- 
rived the  following  morning,  and,  armed  with  a  letter  from  Father 
Rumpler  to  a  Madame  Marchand,  a  warm  friend  of  the  congre- 
gation, they  went  straight  to  the  nearest  Church  to  inquire  the 
way  to  her  house.  It  happened  to  be  the  Jesuit  church,  and 
one  of  the  fathers  kindly  guided  them  to  the  lady's  house.  She 
was  delighted  to  serve  them  ;  gave  them  an  excellent  dinner, 
and,  after  they  had  visited  Rubens'  great  picture,  the  Descent 
from  the  Cross,  set  them  forth  on  their  journey  ;  but  the  "  yea, 
yea  and  nay,  nay  "  of  Scripture,  or  rather  jah,  ja/i,  nein,  nein, 
was  their  only  conversation  with  the  good  lady,  for  although 
young  Walworth  could  speak  French  and  Isaac  German,  she  knew 
nothing  but  Flemish.  Distances  are  not  great  in  little  Belgium, 
and  so  before  night  they  were  at  St.  Trond,  a  little  city  about 
thirty-five  miles  southeast  of  Antwerp  and  twenty  miles  from 
Liege.  Here  they  were  soon  joined  by  Mr.  McMaster,  and  their 
novitiate  began.  Isaac  Hecker  was  now  twenty-five  years  and 
nine  months   old. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

BROTHER  HECKER. 

THE  Redemptorist  novitiate  at  St.  Trond,  as  well  as  the 
house  of  studies  at  Wittem,  Holland,  had  been  established  by 
the  immediate  disciples  of  St.  Clement  Hofbauer.  That  great 
servant  of  God  had  introduced  the  Congregation  of  the  Most 
Holy  Redeemer  into  Austria  and  other  parts  of  Germany  several 
years  before  the  time  of  which  we  write.  A  saint  himself,  and 
of  wonderful  missionary  gifts,  he  was  worthy  of  the  title  of  sec- 
ond founder  of  the  order  of  St.  Alphonsus  Liguori.  St.  Clement 
was  the  son  of  a  Moravian  peasant,  and  in  early  life  had  been 
a  baker  by  trade.  St.  Alphonsus  was  still  alive  when  Clement, 
while  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  was  enrolled  there  in  the  Re- 
demptorist novitiate.  This  event  was  auspicious  of  the  future  of 
the  entire  community,  since  his  apostolate  was  the  means  of 
propagating  the  order  among  the  northern  nations,  and  giving 
to  it  some  of  its  present  dominant  chaiacteristics  of  Teutonic 
discipline;  whereas  in  the  land  of  its  origin  it  has  never  fully  re- 
covered from  the  disasters  which  befell  it  during  the  lifetime  of 
its  founder.  In  Germany  and  the  Low  Countries,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  children  of  St.  Alphonsus  and  St.  Clement  were,  at 
the  time  when  the  three  Americans  joined  them,  the  most  pow- 
erful preachers  in  the  Church.  Their  vocation  called  them  to 
give  missions — spiritual  exercises  lasting  from  a  week  to  a  month 
— 'to  the  faithful  in  every  part  of  Catholic  Europe,  not  except- 
ing France.  Their  fame  was  established  as  the  foremost  preach- 
ers of  penance  and  of  the  Redeemer's  love  for  sinners. 

St.  Trond  was  the  novitiate  of  the  Belgian  Province,  which 
embraced  Belgium  and  Holland  as  well  as  the  newly  established 
convents  in  England  and  America.  The  Provincial  was  Father 
de  Held,  whom  we  saw  in  Baltimore  while  he  was  there  on  a 
tour  of  inspection  of  the  American  houses.  He  was  an  Austrian 
German,  a  man  of  noble  presence,  matured  spirituality  and  an 
accomplished  missionary.  Father  Hecker  knew  him  well  in  after 
years,  and  always  counted  him  as  one  who  understood  his 
spirit  and  approved  his    aspirations. 

The  convent  in  St.  Trond  was  in  a  narrow  street  of  the 
quaint  little  city;  so  narrow,  indeed,  that  one  almost  fancied  that 
he  could  touch  both  walls    by  stretching   out    his    arms.      It  was 


Brother  Hccker.  203 


a  solid  old  structure,  built  in  the  first  half  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury by  St.  Colette  for  her  Poor  Clares,  an  ample  guarantee  of 
its  conformity  to  the  ideas  of  religious  poverty.  It  was  not  ar- 
chitecturally fine,  but  was  a  curious  and  interesting  building. 
Isaac  in  one  of  his  letters  home  says  that  the  house  was  very 
roomy,  with  long  corridors  having  cells  on  each  side.  It 
abutted  on  a  church  which  was  open  to  the  public  and  served 
by  the  fathers ;  a  window  in  the  convent  chapel  looked  into 
the  sanctuary.  Attached  to  the  house  was  a  garden  of  three 
or  four  acres. 

The  country  around  the  town  is  a  typical  Flemish  landscape, 
flat,  fertile,  thickly  dotted  with  farm  buildings,  and  highly  culti- 
vated. The  people  are  wholly  Catholic.  The  town  is  an  old 
one,  and  in  its  time  has  had  some  military  importance.  Our 
young  novices  often  walked  upon  the  ramparts  which  encircled 
it.  In  the  neighborhood  are  structures  which  were  built  be- 
fore the  Christian  era;  quite  near  by  was  one  of  Caesar's 
round  towers,  as  well  as  the  deserted  ruins  of  an  ancient  city 
named  Leo.  Curious  old  churches  and  monasteries  might  often 
be  seen  by  the  novices  on  their  long  walks  into  the  country. 
All  this  antiquity  was  the  more  pleasing  to  the  American 
novices  because  in  their  own  land  the  forests,  the  rivers,  and  the 
everlasting  hills  are  all  that  represent  the  distant  past. 

Besides  twenty  novices  there  were  ten  or  twelve  fathers  at 
St.  Trond,  who  either  served  the  church  or  went  about  on  mis- 
sions; and  there  were  also  a  number  of  lay  brothers.  By 
nationality  the  greater  portion  of  the  novices  were  Belgians  and 
Hollanders,  the  others  being  mostly  Germans.  The  language 
of  the  house  was  French,  though  Latin  was  sometimes  used. 
Of  course  this  was  an  added  difficulty  to  Brother  Hecker,  as  he 
was  now  called,  for  he  knew  practically  nothing  of  that  language, 
though  he  had  studied  it  a  little.  But  he  attacked  it  reso- 
lutely, and,  as  one  of  his  companions  said,  learned  it  heels  over 
head.  He  never  feared  to  make  mistakes,  nor  dreaded  a  smile 
at  his  expense,  and  as  a  consequence  was  soon  able  to  talk  to 
any  one.  But  his  French  was  always  curious,  and  when  he  took 
his  turn  atr  reading  during  meals  he  gave  the  community  some 
hearty  laughs. 

All  the  new-comers  were  invested  with  the  Redemptorist 
habit  about  three  weeks  after  their  arrival,  in  September,  1845. 
"You    can    scarce    imagine   the  happiness    I    felt    on  my  arrival 


204  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker, 


here,"  he  writes  to  his  mother  in  his  first  letter  home.  "  For 
three  days  my  heart  was  filled  with  joy  and  gladness.  I  was 
like  one  who  had  been  transported  to  a  lovelier,  a  purer,  and  a 
better  world."  He  tells  her  that  he  had  waited  for  a  fortnight 
before  writing,  to  learn  the  place,  and  then,  after  expressing  his 
satisfaction  with  everything  in  such  sentences  as  the  above,  he 
fills  the  rest  of  the  letter  with  arguments  in  favor  of  the  Cath- 
olic Church  and  exhortations  to  join  it.  Such  was  the  burden  of 
all  of  his  letters  home  from  both  St.  Trond  and  Wittem.  We  have 
ten  written  from  the  novitiate.  An  exception  must  be  made  as 
to  one  which  describes  in  detail  the  daily  order  of  life  in  the 
novitiate.     It  is  addressed  to  his    mother. 

He  tells  her  that  the  first  bell  rings  at  half-past  four  in  the 
morning  and  the  last  at  half-past  nine  at  night.  The  time  is 
divided  between  various  common  and  private  devotional  exer- 
cises, including  Mass,  meditations,  recitation  of  the  office  in 
common,  study  of  the  rule  of  the  order,  spiritual  conferences, 
spiritual  reading,  and  the  like.  Silence  is  broken  only  for  an 
hour  after  dinner  and  another  hour  after  supper.  About  an 
hour  of  out- door  exercise  is  taken  every  day,  and  a  long  walk 
once  a  week  and  on  feast-days.  All  of  Thursday  in  each  week 
and  the  more  important  feasts  of  the  year  are  days  of  recre- 
ation, when  silence  need  not  be  observed  during  the  greater 
part  of  the  day,  and  much  relaxation  is  otherwise  allowed.  All 
Fridays  are  days  of  total  silence  and  special  devotion.  The  let- 
ter fails  to  mention  the  discipline,  or  flagellation,  which  was  taken 
twice  a  week. 

He  ends  thus  :  "  The  time  of  the  novitiate  is  one  year,  and 
its  object  is  to  prove  our  vocation,  and  form  the  religious  char- 
acter— the  heart.  The  exercises  may  seem  too  many  to  you, 
but  to  us  they  are  quite  otherwise.  Their  frequent  changes 
prevent  them  from  being  monotonous,  and  their  variety  makes 
them  agreeable.  Our  time  passes  without  our  taking  count 
of  it,  and  our  joy  is  that  of  a  pure  conscience,  and  our  happi- 
ness that  of  a  clean  heart." 

It  might  seem  a  matter  of  peculiar  difficulty  for  a  free  nature 
like  Isaac  Hecker's  to  conform  to  the  stiff  rules  of  such  a  sys- 
tem. But  this  was  not  the  case,  and  a  closer  look  into  the 
matter  shows  that  such  a  regimen  is  of  much  use  to  an  earnest 
man,  however  free  his  character,  at  the  outset  of  his  spiritual  ca- 
reer.    Experience  proves  that  one  test  of  the  genuineness  of  the 


Brother  Hecker.  205 


interior  disposition  to  serve  God  perfectly  is  readiness  to  sur- 
render exterior  peculiarities.  There  is  nothing  in  the  special 
graces  of  God  which  should  hinder  a  placid  acceptance  of  the 
routine  of  a  novitiate.  The  merging  of  individual  conduct  into 
the  common  custom  is  the  contribution  which  community  life 
must  exact  from  every  member.  If  a  man  is  to  be  a  hermit  he 
may  act  from  individual  impulses  alone,  though,  even  so,  rarely 
without  counsel.  But  if  one  would  live  and  work  with  others, 
special  graces  and  individual  traits  of  character  must  not  be  al- 
lowed to  interfere  with  a  certain  degree  of  uniformity.  On  the 
other  hand,  that  uniformity  should  not  be  allowed  to  cripple  the 
spontaneous  action  of  natural  independence,  and  the  inspiration 
of  graces   which  are  personal. 

It  must  be  granted  that  with  many  souls  a  novitiate  will  tend 
to  a  routine  use  of  religious  aids.  Yet  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
its  discipline  forcibly  concentrates  the  scattered  purposes  of  life 
into  one  powerful  stream.  It  contributes  to  symmetry  of  char- 
acter. It  furnishes  efficacious  tests  of  sincerity.  It  drills  dis- 
orderly natures  into  regularity.  It  acquaints  the  beginner  with 
the  literature  of  his  holy  profession,  and  herein  it  is  of  priceless 
worth.  And  finally,  it  provides  advisers  of  approved  wisdom 
during  the  period  of  the  spiritual  life  when  counsel  is  most  needed, 
as  well  as  most  gratefully  accepted.  But  if  it  fails  in  each  of 
these  particulars,  as  no  doubt  it  sometimes  does,  the  novitiate 
may  be  said  never  to  fail  in  detecting  an  inaptitude  for  the 
common  life,  if  such  exists  ;  that  is  to  say,  a  serious  lack  of 
the  qualities  which  fit  one  to  get  along  in  peace  with  the 
brethren. 

Into  the  novitiates  of  the  religious  orders,  and  into  the  sem- 
inaries which  hold  their  place  for  the  secular  priesthood,  the 
noblest  men  of  our  race  have  entered  joyfully ;  some  to  be 
wedded  to  the  Divine  Spouse  in  the  quiet  seclusion  of  holy  con- 
templation, and  others,  of  the  more  militant  orders,  to  be  trained 
to  follow  worthily  the  standards  of  the  apostolic  warfare  against 
vice  and  error. 

The  novice-master  was  puzzled  by  his  three  Americans, 
though  Brother  McMaster  was  easily  comprehended — an  over- 
frank  temperament,  impulsive,  and  demonstrative.  Not  only 
were  his  banners  always  hanging  on  the  outward  wall,  but  his 
plan  of  campaign  also.  The  other  two  were  a  study,  and  Brother 
Hecker  was  a  curiosity.     Yet    both  were  cheerful,   obedient,    ear- 


2o6  The  Life  of  Father  Nether. 


nest,  courageous.  The  novice-master  was  annoyed  at  the 
Americans'  incessant  demand  for  the  reason  why  of  all  things 
permitted,  and  the  reason  why  not  of  all  things  prohibited;  un- 
til at  last  Brother  Walworth  was  named  Brother  Pourquoi.  As 
to  Brother  Hecker,  besides  showing  the  same  stand-and-deliver 
propensity,  he  occupied  much  of  the  time  of  conversation  in 
philosophizing,  plunging  into  the  obscurest  depths  of  metaphy- 
sical and  ethical  problems,  using  terms  which  were  often  quite 
unfamiliar  to  strictly  orthodox  ears,  and  exhibiting  a  fearless 
independence  of  thought  generally  conceded  among  Catholics 
only  to  practised  theologians.  Yet  the  novice-master  was  well 
pleased  with  both,  though  we  shall  see  that  his  journey  with 
Brother  Hecker  was  for   some  time  in  the   dark. 

When  the  Fourth  of  July  came  around  he  learned  that  it  was 
the  great  American  holiday,  and  he  called  the  three  Americans 
to  him  and  asked,  "  How  do  you  celebrate  your  national  holiday 
at  home  ?  "  "  By  shooting  off  fire-crackers,"  they  answered  with 
a  twinkle.  This  being  out  of  the  question,  and  the  grand  mili- 
tary parade  which  was  next  suggested  also  impracticable,  Brothers 
Walworth  and  Hecker  both  exclaimed,  "  Ginger-bread  !  "  "  Take 
all  you  want,"  was  the  answer,  "  and  go  off  on  a  long  walk,  and 
spend  the  day  by  yourselves."  And  off  they  went  to  wander 
among  the  ruins  of  the  outposts  of  the  old  Roman  republic,  and 
make  Fourth  of  July  speeches  in  honor  of  the  great  new  Republic 
beyond  the  sea.  Those  who  have  been  novices  themselves  will  nor 
be  surprised  at  the  boyishness  of  these  three  manly  characters 
under  the  circumstances. 

Isaac  Hecker's  spirit  was  not  anywise  cramped  by  the  routine 
exercises  of  the  novitiate ;  he  made  them  easily  and  well.  He 
always  seemed  to  his  companions  what  he  actually  was,  and  what 
he  described  himself  to  be  in  his  letters  to  New  York,  a  cheerful 
and  contented  novice.  But,  as  one  of  them  since  expressed  it, 
he  was  not  a  "  dude  "  novice,  not  the  very  pink  of  external 
perfection,  and  had  a  long  period  of  interior  trial.  He  did  not 
exhibit  at  any  time  the  least  hesitancy  about  his  vocation,  for 
his  mind  was  made  up.  Yet  once,  when  he  took  a  walk  with 
Brother  Walworth  to  visit  a  house  of  Recollects,  Franciscans  of 
the  strict  observance,  both  he  and  his  companion  were  greatly 
struck  by  that  charming  poverty  which  the  poor  man  of  Assisi 
has  bequeathed  to  his  children;  they  did  ask  each  other  whether 
they  had  not  made  a  mistake.     This  question,  however,  was    but 


Brother  Hecker.  207 


the    expression  of   a  shadowy  doubt,   vanishing   as  suddenly  as  it 
had    come. 

The  novice-master  was   Father   Othmann,    and  he  was  by  uni- 
versal testimony  entirely  competent  for  his  place.      He  was    him- 
self the  novitiate.      Its  austerities,    and  they   were  not  trifling,  its 
long  and  frequent  prayer,   its  total  seclusion   from    the   world,    all 
were    refined  and    adjusted  to   each  one    by  passing    through  his 
soul   and  being    dispensed    by  his    wisdom.       Father  Hecker    re- 
garded  him  as    a    very  remarkable    man.      He  was  a  student  of 
character,  and  wise  and  sagacious    in   varying   the   application  of 
religious  influences  according  to  temperament  and    spiritual  gifts. 
Under  him  the  danger  of  formalism,  which  occurs  to  one's  mind 
immediately  as  the  incessant  round  of  exercises  is   mentioned,  was 
rendered  remote;  for  he  gave  his  instructions,  and  especially  used 
the  chapter  of  faults,  in  a  way  to  infuse  into  the  souls  of  the  novices 
the   ever- recurring  freshness  of    individual    initiative.      His  model 
(after  St.  Alphonsus)  was  St.  Francis  de  Sales.      He  followed  him 
constantly  in  his  doctrine  and  methods,  and  often  spoke  of    him 
and    quoted    him.     Of    other    methods    and  their    advocates    he 
spoke    respectfully,   but,    however    much    they  were    in    vogue,  he 
did  not  follow  them.      Brother  Hecker  was  a    faithful  student  in 
his  school   and  learned   much   fr3m   Father  Othmann.     The   latter 
especially    insisted    on    the     principle  of    accepting  Providence  as 
the    chief  dispenser  of   mortifications.        He    had    no  objection  to 
self-imposed    spiritual   exercises,  but    he  did    not  positively  favor 
them.       He  taught  his  young  men    that  the    traditional  practices 
of  devout  souls  as  embraced  in  the  routine  of  the  novitiate,   were 
good   mainly   to  break  the  resistance  of    corrupt  nature  and  ren- 
der their  souls  pliant  subjects  of  the  Divine  guidance  in  the  inte- 
rior   life,    as    well    as    submissive    to    the    order    of    God    in    the 
events  of  His  external   Providence. 

The  assistant  novice-master,  who  took  Father  Othmann's 
place  during  his  absence,  was  a  Walloon.  His  name  we  have 
been  unable  to  discover,  but  he  was  a  holy  priest,  held  up  to 
the  novices  as  their  model  and  esteemed  by  them  as  the  saint 
of  the  novitiate.  He  was  a  very  pleasant  man  withal,  and  no 
doubt  added  in  every  way  to  the  fruits  of  the  long  year  of 
spiritual   trial. 

When  Isaac  Hecker  presented  himself  as  a  novice  he  took 
his  place  among  the  youths  learning  the  A,  3,  C  of  the  spiritual 
life,  while  he  himself  had  experienced  for  many  months  the  most 


2o8  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

rare  dealings  of  the  Holy  Ghost  with  the  soul.  This  could  not 
fail  to  come  to  the  knowledge  of  Father  Othmann,  and,  taken 
with  the  other  peculiarities  of  his  subject,  to  elicit  his  most  skil- 
ful treatment.  "  Pere  Othmann,  my  novice- master,"  said  Father 
Hecker,  in  after  years,  "  had  a  right  to  be  puzzled  by  me,  and 
so  he  watched  me  more  than  he  did  the  others."  He  watched 
and  studied  him  and  gradually  applied  the  two  sovereign  tests 
of  genuine  spirituality,  obedience  and  humiliation.  These  were 
all  the  more  efficacious  in  this  case,  because  Brother  Hecker  was 
a  man  of  great  native  independence  of  character  and  naturally 
of  an   extremely  sensitive  disposition. 

Such  was  the  common  austerity  of  the  life  that  it  took  some 
ingenuity  to  inflict  on  a  novice  a  mortification  which  had  not 
grown  stale  by  use  in  the  case  of  one  or  more  of  the  others. 
But  in  searching  the  interior  of  the  soul  the  director  could  find 
tender  places  into  which  his  weapon  would  be  plunged  to  the 
bone.  But  it  is  more  than  probable  that  he  misunderstood 
Brother  Hecker,  and  that  for  a  time  he  even  suspected  him  of 
being  under  delusions.  For  several  months,  at  any  rate,  he 
treated  him  at  his  weekly  confession  with  the  utmost  rigor,  pro- 
ducing indescribable  mental  agony.  Many  years  afterwards,  and 
when  near  his  death,  Father  Hecker  once  said  to  the  writer: 
"  While  I  was  kneeling  among  the  novices,  outside  Pere  Oth- 
mann's  room,  waiting  to  go  to  confession,  I  often  begged  of  God 
that  it  might  be  His  will  that  I  should  die  before  my  turn  came, 
so  dreadful  an  ordeal  had  confession  become  on  account  of  the 
severity  of  the  novice-master."  Yet,  as  recorded  in  the  memoranda, 
the  victim  was  eager  for  the  sacrifice  when  the  knife  was  not  actu  - 
ally  lifted  over  him.  "  I  begged  the  novice-master,"  he  said  on  an- 
other occasion,  "  to  watch  me  carefully,  and  when  he  saw  me  bent 
on  anything  to  thwart  me.  I  did  not  know  any  other  way  of 
overcoming  my  nature.  He  took  me  at  my  word,  too.  For  ex- 
ample, once  a  week  only  we  had  a  walk,  a  good  long  one,  and 
we  enjoyed  it,  and  it  was  necessary  for  us.  I  enjoyed  it  very 
much  indeed.  So,  sometimes  when  we  were  starting  out,  my 
thoughts  bounding  with  the  anticipated  pleasure,  he  would  stop 
me  midway  on  the  stairs:  '  Frere  Hecker,'  he  would  say,  'please 
remain  at  home,  and  instead  of  the  walk  wash  and  clean  the 
stair-way.'  It  would  nearly  kill  me  to  obey,  such  was  my  dis- 
appointment,  grief,    humiliation." 

In    conjunction  with    these    trials  from   without  came  a  recur- 


Brother  Hecker.  209 


rence  of  resistless  interior  impulses.  "  During  my  novitiate,"  he 
is  recorded  as  saying  in  1885,  "I  found  myself  under  impulses  of 
grace  which  it  seemed  to  me  impossible  to  resist.  One  was  to 
conquer  the  tendency  to  sleep.  I  slept  on  boards  or  on  the 
floor.  After  a  while  I  was  able  to  do  with  five  hours  sleep, 
and  often  with  only  three,  in  the  twenty-four.  Pere  Othmann 
was  not  unwilling  for  me  to  follow  these  impulses  as  soon  as 
he  became  convinced  of  their  imperative  strength.  Yet  I  now 
see  that  such  practices  were  in  a  certain  sense  mistaken.  They 
necessarily  consumed  in  mortification  vitality  that  I  could  now 
use,  if  I  had  it,  in  a  more  useful  way.  Still,  how  could  I 
help  it?" 

The  end  of  this  period  of  his  humiliations,  which  was  not 
far  from  the  end  of  his  noviceship,  is  thus  described  :  "  One  day 
after  Communion  I  was  making  my  half-hour  thanksgiving  in 
my  room,  when  Pere  Othmann  came  in  and  examined  me  about 
my  form  of  prayer.  Oh  !  it  was  just  then  that  I  had  reached  the 
passive  state  of  prayer  :  /  did  nothing,  Another  did  everything 
in  my  prayer.  From  that  time,  having  put  me  down  in  the 
gutter,  the  novice-master  raised  me  up  to  the  pinnacle,  whereas 
I  should  have  been  in  neither  place."  On  another  occasion  he 
told  how  the  change  of  prayer  had  happened  :  "  I  was  on  my 
knees  one  day  after  Communion,  making  a  regular  thanksgiving, 
when  suddenly  God  stopped  me,  and  I  was  told  not  to  pray  that 
way  any  more.  Question  :  How  were  you  told — what  words  were 
spoken  to  you  ?  Answer:  Cease  your  activity.  I  have  no  need 
of  your  words  when  I  possess  your  will.  'Tis  I,  not  you,  who 
should  act.  My  action  in  you  is  more  important  than  your 
thanks.  I  cease  to  act  when  you  begin,  and  begin  to  act  when 
you  cease.  Re  still — tranquil — listen — suffer  me  to  act.  Abandon 
yourself  to  me,  and  I   will  take  care  of  you." 

When  in  Rome,  in  the  winter  of  1857-8,  he  was  compelled 
by  circumstances,  which  will  be  told  in  their  place,  to  make  a 
written  summary  of  his  spiritual  experience.  In  it  he  says : 
"  My  novitiate  was  one  of  sore  trials,  for  the  master  of  novices 
seemed  not  to  understand  me,  and  the  manifestation  of  my  in- 
terior to  him  was  a  source  of  the  greatest  pain.  After  about 
nine  or  ten  months  he  appeared  to  recognize  the  hand  of  God 
in  my  direction  in  a  special  manner,  conceived  a  great  esteem 
(for  me),  and  placed  unusual  confidence  in  me,  and  allowed  me 
without     asking    it,    though      greatly     desired,  daily   Communion. 


210  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

During  my  whole  novitiate  no  amount  of  austerity  could  appease 
my  desire  for  mortification,  and  several  gifts  in  the  way  of  prayer 
were  bestowed  on  me." 

On  March  6,  1886,  while  in  a  state  of  almost  utter  physical 
prostration,  he  communicated  to  the  writer  the  following  :  "  Forty 
years  ago,  in  my  novitiate,  God  told  me  that  I  was  to  suffer  in 
every  fibre  of  my  being."  "Perhaps,"  was  remarked,  "you  have 
not  suffered  all  yet."  Answer:  "  Perhaps  not,  but  God  has  kept 
His  promise  in  every  limb,  member,  and  function  of  my  body." 
It  may  become  necessary  to  refer  again  to  these  interior  experi- 
ences. We  leave  them  with  the  remark  that  his  novitiate  was 
characterized  by  a  continuance  of  Divine  interferences  similar  to 
those  which  had  occurred  at  intervals  from  the  time  he  was 
driven  from  home  and  business  to  seek  the  fulfilment  of  his  as- 
pirations. 

The  following  is  the  record  of  a  brave  soul's  failure  to  become 
a  Redemptorist.  It  is  given  in  a  letter  dated  September  14, 
1846:  "Brother  McM aster,  who  returns  to  the  U.  S.,  gives  me 
the  opportunity  of  writing  a  few  lines  to  you,"  etc.  It  was  a 
profound  disappointment  for  Mr.  McMaster  to  be  obliged  to 
return  home  a  layman,  and  it  shocked  his  companions.  It  is  a 
little  singular  that  Father  Othmann  told  him  that  his  vocation 
was  not  to  be  a  religious,  but  an  editor.  He  carried  with  him 
Brother  Hecker's  messages  of  affection  to  his  friends  and  rela- 
tives, and  rosaries  of  Isaac's  own  making  for  his  mother  and  his 
brother  George. 

Writing  to  the  latter,  on  August  26,  1846,  after  some 
tender  and  affectionate  words,  he  says :  "  I  have  now  nearly 
eight  weeks  until  the  time  of  taking  the  vows.  Oh  that  it 
were  but  eight  minutes,  nay,  eight  seconds,  when  I  shall  be 
permitted,  with  the  favor  and  grace  of  God,  to  consecrate  my 
whole  being  and  life  to  His  sole  service  !  Millions  of  worlds  put 
on  top  of  one  another  could  not  purchase  from  me  my  vocation. 
We  make  fifteen  days'  retreat  before  we  take  the  vows.  You 
must  recommend  me  very  particularly  to  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop 
McCloskey  ;  tell  him  the  time  of  my  taking  the  vows  (Feast  of 
St.  Teresa,  October  15),  and  give  him  my  humble  request  to 
remember  me  at  that  time  in  his  prayers." 

On  the  feast  of  St.  Teresa,  October  15,  1846,  therefore,  the 
two  American  novices  took  their  vows,  and  became  members  of 
the    Congregation    of   the    Most    Holy    Redeemer.      On    the  very 


Brother  Hecker.  21 1 


morning  of  that  event,  at  half-past  eight,  Brother  Hecker  wrote 
a  letter  to  his  mother,  in  which  he  goes  over  all  of  his  trials 
and  experiences  in  following  the  Divine  guidance  since  he  first 
quitted  business.  He  breathes  intense  affection  in  every  word, 
and  writes  in  a  solemn  mood.  We  would  give  the  letter  to  the 
reader  entire,  but  that  he  has  already  learned  what  it  narrates. 
It  ends  thus  :  "  Dear  mother,  in  half  an  hour  I  go  to  the  chapel 
to  consecrate  my  whole  being  for  ever  to  God  and  His  service. 
What  peace,  what  happiness  this  gives  me  !  To  live  alone  for 
His  love,  and  to  love  all  for  His  love,  in  His  love,  and  with 
His  love !  ' 

After  the  ceremony  was  over  he  wrote  as  follows  to  his 
brother  John  : 

"  Dear  Brother  John  :  This  day,  with  the  special  grace 
of  God,  I  have  taken  the  holy  vows  of  the  Catholic  religion, 
which  are  obedience,  poverty,  chastity,  and  final  perseverance. 
These  vows  bind  me  to  the  Congregation  of  the  Most  Holy  Re- 
deemer for  my  natural  life,  and  the  Congregation  in  the  same 
manner  to  me.  Thanks  to  God  for  His  kind  Providence.  My 
vocation  is  once  for  all,  for  ever  settled,  firmly  fixed.  During  the 
year  and  more  of  my  novitiate  I  have  not  had  any  temptation 
against  my  vocation,  nor  any  desire  on  my  part  to  return  to  the 
world. 

"  As  you  were  not  certain  whether  I  would  return  after  the 
novitiate  or  not,  I  suppose  you  left  my  name  in  connection  with 
yours  and  brother  George's  in  the  firm.  But  now  that  this 
(separation)  is  certain,  would  it  not  be  best  for  you  to  destroy 
that  agreement  we  made  with  each  other  some  time  ago,  that  no 
future  difficulty  can  or  may  arise  ?  All  this  I  leave  to  your 
judgments;  and  as  for  me,  dear  brothers  John  and  George,  in 
respect  to  the  business,  you  may  regard  me  as  though  I  had 
never  been  connected  with  it,  nor  had  any  title  or  claim  upon 
it  whatever.  I  am  simply  your  dear  brother  Isaac,  who  loves 
you  from  the  depth  of  his  heart.  This  love,  be  assured,  will  never 
be  diminished  by  any  event ;  whatever  happens  will  only  give 
me  new  motives  to  love  .you  the  more.  My  conduct  is  under 
your  inspection,  yours  especially,  dear  John,  as  being  the  eldest 
of  us  three,  and  I  trust  your  sincere  love  for  me  will  not  let  any 
word  or  action  of  mine  pass  unnoticed  which  may  be  the  least 
unpleasant  to  you. 


212 


The  Life  of  Father  Heckcr. 


"  My  love,   my  gratitude,  and  my   prayers  to  and  for  you  all. 
Remember  me  to  all  my  friends. 

"  Your  brother,  ISAAC. 

"St.  Trond,  October  15,   1846. 

"  I  have  forgotten  to  say  that  if  you  have  not  already  made 
use  of  the  things  that    I    left,  such    as    clothing,  you    should    do 

T  " 
so.  v- 

In  bidding  adieu  to  the  novitiate  we  think  Father  Hecker's 
last  meeting  with  his  old  novice-master,  as  we  find  it  recorded 
in  the  memoranda,  will  be  of  interest :  "  Pere  Othmann  was  one 
of  my  best  friends.  Shortly  before  he  died  I  happened  to  be  in 
France  (this  was  after  leaving  the  Redemptorists),  and  I  heard 
that  he  was  extremely  ill  at  the  Redemptorist  house  at  Nancy. 
I  wrote  to  him  that  if  he  wished  I  would  call  and  see  him.  He 
answered  me  at  once,  begging  me  to  come  immediately,  as  he 
desired  above  all  things  to  see  me  before  he  died.  So  I  made  a 
journey  to  Nancy,  and  we  had  some  hours  of  pleasant  conference 
together,  and  I  bade  him    farewell." 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

HOW     BROTHER      HECKER     MADE     HIS     STUDIES     AND     WAS 

ORDAINED     PRIEST. 

THE  day  after  the  taking  of  the  vows,  Brothers  Hecker  and 
Walworth  started  by  stage-coach  for  the  house  of  studies,  at 
Wittem  in  Dutch  Limburg.  The  route  lay  nearly  east  through 
a  country  pleasant  on  account  of  the  fertility  of  its  soil  and  the 
industry  of  its  inhabitants,  and  interesting  from  its  churches, 
monasteries,  and  curious  old  villages.  The  travellers  crossed  the 
Meuse  at  Maestricht  and  reached  their  destination  before  night- 
fall. Wittem  is  a  small  town,  thirty  miles  east  of  St.  Trond  and 
about  ten  west  of  Aix-la-Chapelle.  This  part  of  Holland  is  en- 
tirely Catholic,  and  its  people  possess  a  fervor  which  has  sent 
missionaries  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Everywhere  shrines  were 
to  be  seen  by  the  roadsides.  The  country  is  not  so  level  as 
that  west  of  the  Meuse,  and  the  Redemptorist  students  often 
made  excursions  among  the  hills,  our  young  Americans  admir- 
ing the  shepherds  guarding  their  flocks,  with  their  crooks  and 
their  dogs. 

The  house  of  studies  was  an  old  Capuchin  monastery,  large 
and  plain  and  very  interesting.  The  friars  had  buried  their 
dead  under  the  ground  floor,  which  enabled  the  students  to  dig 
up  an  abundant  supply  of  skulls  as  memento  moris  till  the  rector 
forbade  it.  The  students  were  more  numerous  at  Wittem  than 
the  novices  had  been  at  St.  Trond.  They  were  mostly  Dutch- 
men, with  a  sprinkling  of  Belgians  and  a  few  Germans ;  but  the 
language  of  the  house  was  French  or  Latin.  We  have  not  been 
able  to  make  quite  sure  of  the  name  of  the  Rector;  possibly  it 
was  Father  Heilig,  who  certainly  was  there  at  this  time,  either 
in  charge  of  the  house  or  as  one  of  the  professors.  The  Master 
of  Studies  was  Father  L'hoir,  who  soon  became  one  of  Brother 
Hecker's  dearest  friends. 

The  two  Americans  found  their  fellow-students  men  of  fine 
character  and  every  way  lovable,  being  earnest  and  devoted  reli- 
gious. They  admired  their  thorough  proficiency  in  all  classical 
and  literary  studies,  the  result  of  old-world  method  and  applica- 
tion. Mentally  and  physically  they  were  splendid  men.  The 
whole      race      of     Flemings      and      Dutch     was      found      by     our 

young  recruits  to  be  a  grave  and  powerful  people,    although    ex- 

213 


2i4  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


ceptional  cases  of  mercurial  temperament  were  not  rare.  Some 
curious  individuals  were  to  be  found  among  them,  as  is  more 
the  case  in  European  nationalities  in  general  than  in  our 
own.  Both  Americans  were  much  liked  and  respected  by  all 
their  new-found  brethren,  though  Brother  Hecker,  for  reasons 
soon  to  be  told,  was  sometimes  ridiculed  in  a  way  that  distressed 
him.  Brother  Walworth,  having  studied  much  before  entering 
the  order,  was  placed  at  once  in  the  theological  department  and 
Brother  Hecker  in  the  philosophical.  The  former  was  even  dis- 
pensed from  one  year  of  his  theology,  taking  but  two  years  of 
the  three  which  formed  the  full  course.  The  difference  of  stud  • 
ies  separated  the  two  companions  almost  wholly  from  each  other, 
members  of  the  two  departments  not  being  allowed  even  to 
speak  together  except  on  extraordinary  occasions. 

All  went  smoothly  with  Brother  Walworth.  Not  so  with 
Brother  Hecker,  who  was  expected  to  make  two  years  of  philoso- 
phy and  meantime  to  increase  his  stock  of  Latin.  But  his  faculties 
had  been  subjected  to  spiritual  experiences  of  so  absorbing  a  nature 
that  he  found  study  impossible.  And  when  Brother  Walworth 
was  in  due  course  ordained  priest,  in  August,  1848,  his  com- 
panion was  stuck  fast  where  he  had  begun.  It  need  not  be  said 
that  so  earnest  a  soul  made  every  effort  to  study,  but  all  was 
in  vain.  In  the  statement  made  in  Rome  ten  years  later,  and 
referred  to  before,   we  find  the  following : 

"  My  wish  was  to  make  a  thorough  course  (of  studies)  and  be- 
gin with  philosophy.  This  the  superior  granted.  My  intellect 
in  all  scientific  (scholastic)  matters  seemed  stupid,  it  was  with 
great  difficulty  that  its  attention  could  be  kept  on  them  for  a 
few  moments,  and  my  memory  retained  of  these  things  nothing. 
At  the  close  of  the  first  year  (at  Wittem)  all  ability  to  pursue 
•my  studies  had  altogether  departed.  This  state  of  things  per- 
plexed my  superiors,  and  on  being  asked  what  they  could  do 
with  me,  my  answer  was,  '  One  of  three  things :  make  me  a  lay 
brother ;  send  me  to  a  contemplative  order  which  does  not  re- 
quire scientific  (scholastic)  studies;  or  allow  me  to  pursue,  at  my 
free  moments,  my  studies  by  myself.'  Instead  of  either  of  these 
they  gave  me  charge  of  the  sick,  which  was  my  sole  (regular) 
occupation  for  the  whole  year  following.  During  this  year  my 
stupidity  augmented  and  reduced  me  to  a  state  next  to  folly,  and 
it   was   my  delight  to  be  treated   as  a  fool.      One    day,   when    my 


Brother  Hecker  ordained  Priest.  21 


fellow-students  were  treating  me    as  such,   and  throwing  earth  at 
me,    an  ancient  father,   venerated    for    his   gifts    and  virtues,   sud- 
denly turned  around  to  them   and   with  emotion    exclaimed,    '  You 
treat  him  as  a  fool  and    despise   him  ;     the    day    will    come  when 
you  will  think   it  an  honor  to  kiss  his  hand.'      At  the  expiration 
of  the  second     year    (at    Wittemi  the    question  came     up     again, 
what  was  to  be  done    with  me.        My  superior  put  this    question 
to  me,  and  demanded  of  me  under  obedience  to  tell  him  in    writ- 
ing how,   in  my  belief,   God  intended  to  employ  me   in  the  future. 
Though   the  answer  to  this  question    was   no  secret  to  me,   yet  to 
express  it  while  in  a  condition  of  such  utter  helplessness  required 
me  to  make  an  act  of  great  mortification.     There  was   no  escape, 
and    my  reply  was  as  follows :    It  seemed  to   me   in  looking    back 
at  my  career  before  becoming  a  Catholic    that  Divine   Providence 
had  led  me,  as  it  were  by  the  hand,   through   the    different    ways  , 
of  error  and  made  me    personally    acquainted    with   the     different  I 
classes  of  persons  and  their    wants,    of    which  the    people  of   the 
United     States    is    composed,   in     order    that    after    having    made 
known  to  me  the  truth,  He   might  employ  me  the  better  to  point  j 
out  to  them  the  way  to   His    Church.     That,   therefore,   my  voca- 
tion was  to  labor   for  the  conversion  of    my   non-Catholic    fellow 
countrymen.     This  work,  it  seemed  to  me  at  first,  was  to  be  ac- 
complished by  means  of  acquired  science,    but  now    it    had    been 
made  plain  that  God  would  have    it  done  principally  by   the    aid 
of  His  grace,   and  if  (I   were)    left    to  study  at  such  moments    as 
my  mind   was  free,  it  would  not    take  a  long  time  for  me  to  ac- 
quire sufficient   knowledge    to    be    ordained    a  priest.       This    plan 
was  adopted.*' 

A  more  explicit  statement  of  the  supernatural  influences  by 
means  of  which  God  informed  him  of  his  mission  was  made  in 
after  years  to  various  persons,  singly  and  in  common.  It  was  to 
the  effect  that  the  Holy  Spirit  gave  him  a  distinct  and  unmis- 
takable intimation  that  he  was  set  apart  to  undertake,  in 
some  leading  and  conspicuous  way,  the  conversion  of  this 
country.  That  this  intimation  came  to  him  while  he  was  at 
VVittem  is  also  certain ;  but  it  is  equally  so  that  he  had  premoni- 
tions of  it  during  the  novitiate.  It  was  the  incongruity  of  such  a 
persuasion  being  united  to  a  helpless  inactivity  of  mind  in  matters 
of  study  that  made  Isaac  Hecker  a  puzzle  to  his  very  self,  to  say 
nothing  of  those  who  had  to  decide  his  place  in  the  order.      Father 


216  The  Life  of  Father  Hcckcr. 

Othmann,  in  bidding  him  farewell  at  St.  Trond,  had  told  him  to 
become  "  //;/  saint  foil,"  a  holy  fool;  a  direction  based  upon  his 
excessive  abstraction  of  mind  towards  mystical  things,  and  his 
consequent  incapacity  for  mental  effort  in  ordinary  affairs.  Once, 
at  least,  during  those  two  eventful  years  at  Wittem,  Father  Oth- 
mann visited  the  place,  and  when  he  saw  Brother  Hecker  he 
embraced  him  and  exclaimed,  "  O  here  is  the  spouse  of  the 
Canticles  !  "  His  farewell  injunction  on  parting  at  St.  Trond  had 
been  perforce  complied  with. 

It  must  have  taken  more  than  ordinary  penetration  to  per- 
ceive anything  but  a  kind  of  grandiose  folly  in  Brother  Hecker. 
The  impulse  to  talk  about  the  conversion  of  America,  to  plan 
it  and  advocate  it,  to  proclaim  it  possible  and  prove  it  so,  and 
to  philosophize  on  the  profoundest  questions  of  the  human  rea- 
son, was  irrepressible.  This  he  did  with  an  air  of  matured  con- 
viction and  with  the  impact  of  conscious  moral  authority,  -but 
in  terms  as  strikingly  eccentric  as  the  thoughts  were  lofty  and 
inspiring,  and  in  execrable  French,  the  declaimer  being  known 
as  minus  habens  in  his  studies  and  utterly  incapable.  All  this 
was  the  very  make-up  of  folly ;  and  Brother  Hecker  was  no 
doubt  thought  a  fool.  But  how  holy  a  fool  he  was  his  superiors 
soon  discovered.     We  find  the  following  among  the  memoranda: 

"  Pere  L'hoir  was  my  superior  in  the  studentate.  He  was  a 
holy  man  and  a  good  friend,  but  he  was  surprised  at  my  state  of 
prayer.  He  asked  me  how  it  could  happen  that  I,  a  convert  of 
only  a  few  years,  should  have  a  state  of  prayer  he  had  not  at- 
tained though  in  the  Church  all  his  life  and  striving  for  perfection. 
I  told  him  that  it  was  God's  will  to  set  apart  some  men  for  a 
certain  work  and  specially  prepare  them  for  it,  and  cause  them, 
as  He  had  me,  to  be  brought  under  the  influence  of  special  Divine 
graces  from  boyhood.  L'hoir  then  began  to  send  anybody  with 
difficulties  to  mc,  and  God  gave  me  grace  to  settle  them.  Then 
murmurs  arose  that  he  was  too  much  under  my  influence,  and  he 
was  removed  from  his  position  over  the  studies.  But  afterwards 
they  replaced  him  ;    he  was  very  efficient  in   his  place." 

The  confidence  of  his  superiors  in  Brother  Hecker  was  shown 
by  their  causing  him  to  receive  tonsure  and  minor  orders  at  the 
end  of  his  first  year  at  Wittem,  though  he  had  made  no  progress 
whatever  in  his  studies. 


Brother  Hcckcr  ordained  Priest.  217 


The  following  notes  are  found  in  the  memoranda: 


*& 


"  The  time  in  my  whole  life  when  I  felt  I  had  gained  the 
greatest  victory  by  self-exertion  was  when,  after  weeks  of  labor, 
I   was  able  to    recite  the  Pater  Nostcr   in   Latin. 

"  My  memory  finally  failed  me  in  my  studies  to  that  degree 
that  at  last  I  took  all  my  books  up-stairs  to  the  library  and  told 
the  prefect  of  studies  I  could  do  no  more  to  acquire  knowledge 
by  study. 

"  Question.  How  long  were  you  unable  to  study  ?  Answer. 
Two  years  in  Holland  and  one  year  in  England.  I  never  went 
to  class  those  years.  I  was  a  kind  of  a  scandal,  of  course,  in  the 
house.  When  I  got  a  lucid  interval  of  memory  I  studied,  though 
much  of  the  time  I  hadn't  a  book  in  my  room.  Yet,  when 
they  came  to  ordain  me,  I  knew  enough  and  was  sent  at  once  to 
the  work  of  the  ministry." 

That  his  stupidity  was  not  blameworthy  is  shown  by  the  sym- 
pathy of  Isaac's  superiors  ;  that  it  was  not  natural  is  known  to 
our  readers  by  their  acquaintance  with  his  native  ability  exhib- 
ited in  his  journals  and  letters.  The  difficulty  was  confined  al- 
most wholly  to  study;  to  fix  his  attention  on  the  matter  in  the 
text- books,  or  to  grasp  it  and  hold  it  in  memory,  was  beyond  his 
power.  Meantime  his  letters  to  his  friends  in  New  York  and 
elsewhere  were  full  of  life.  He  kept  a  copy  of  a  carefully  writ- 
ten one,  addressed  to  an  old-time  friend  of  the  Brook  Farm  com- 
munity. It  is  a  model  of  brief  statement  of  great  truths,  and 
proves  that  the  social  difficulty  can  only  be  fully  remedied  by  the 
Catholic  Church,  which  has  an  elevating  force  incomparably  more 
powerful  than  any  other  known  to  humanity.  The  method  used 
and  the  choice  of  arguments  are  peculiarly  Isaac  Hecker's  own, 
and  the  tone,  though  affectionate,  is  one  of  authority,  as  that  of 
an  exponent  of  evident  truth.  His  letters  to  his  mother  and  his 
brothers  are  full  of  controversy,  abounding  in  appeals  to  Scrip- 
ture, to  the  voice  of  conscience,  to  the  dictates  of  reason ;  and 
although  the  tone  is  one  of  deep  affection,  the  attacks  on  Protest- 
antism are  keen,  and  the  use  of  facts  and  persons  as  illustrations 
full  of  intelligence.  Most  of  the  letters  which  we  have  found 
were  addressed  to  his  mother,  for  whose  conversion  he  had 
an  ardent  longing.  With  one  of  them  he  sends  her  a  little 
manuscript  treatise  on  true   Bible  Christianity  which    he  had   him- 


218  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker 


self  prepared.  We  give  the  reader  extracts  from  two  letters,  the 
first  from  one  to  his  brother  John  and  the  second  from  one  to 
his  mother  : 

"Your  lamentation,  dear  John,  on  my  separation  from  you, 
excites  in  me  a  great  astonishment.  To  justify  this  separation  it 
seems  to  me  that  you  have  only  to  open  a  page  of  the  Gospels  of 
Christ,  and  to  read  it  with  a  sincere  belief  in  the  words  and  a 
senerous  love  of  the  Saviour.  As  for  me,  I  regret  nothing  so  much 
as  that  I  have  not  a  thousand  lives  to  sacrifice  to  His  service  and 
love.  Yes,  I  love  you  all  more  than  I  ever  did,  and  I  would  count 
nothing  as  a  cost  for  your  present  and  eternal  good.  Yet,  by 
the  grace  of  God,  I  love  my  Saviour  infinitely,  infinitely,  infinitely 
more.  Alas !  when  will  those  who  profess  to  be  Christians  learn 
the  significance  of  Christ's  Gospels  and  His  blessed  example.  I  am 
not  ignorant  nor  insensible  of  the  love  we  owe  to  our  parents 
and  relatives — no,  I  am  not  insensible  of  this  love  ;  but  in  me  it 
is  all  in  Christ,  as  I  would  wish  yours  were.  ...  I  embrace  you, 
dear  brother,  in  the  love  of  our  crucified  Lord." 

"  Dear  Mother  :  There  have  been  times  when,  considering 
the  wickedness  of  the  world,  sensible  of  its  miseries  and  my  own, 
and  at  the  same  time  beholding  obscurely  and  as  it  were  tasting 
the  things  of  heaven,  I  have  longed  and  wished  to  be  separated 
from  the  body.  But  when  coming  back  to  myself,  and  thinking 
that  with  the  aid  of  grace  I  can  still  increase  in  God's  love  and 
hence  love  Him  still  more  in  consequence  for  all  eternity,  I  feel 
willing  to  love  and  suffer  until  the  last  day,  if  by  this  I  should 
acquire  but  one  drop  more  of  Divine  love  in  my  heart.  And  so 
it  is,  as  St.  Paul  declares,  that  we  should  count  the  trials  here  as 
nothing  compared  with  the  glory  that  awaits  us.  Now,  all  these 
considerations,  dear  mother,  join  together  to  increase  my  desire 
to  see  you  in  the  communion  of  the  Holy  Catholic  Church,  to 
which  God  has  singularly  given  so  many  means  of  growing  in 
.race,"  etc.,  etc. 

Notwithstanding  these  marks  of  active  intelligence,  Brother 
Hecker  could  not  study,  except  by  fits  and  starts.  Often  he 
could  not  get  through  the  common  prayers,  and  in  ordinary  con- 
versation his  tongue  would  sometimes  be  tangled  among  the 
w  >rds  of  a    sentence    before    he     was  half    through  with  it.     The 


Brother  Hecker  ordained  Priest.  219 


reader    has  already  learned    that    the  penalties    of    utter  stupidity 
were  not  unknown  to  the  unwritten    law  of  the  Wittem  student- 
ate,  notwithstanding    that  the  young  men   were  devout    religious  ; 
and     hence     Brother     Hecker     must    have    had     many     hours    of 
anguish.     But  we  cannot  suppose  that  his   native  cheerfulness  was 
quite    suppressed.       His     dulness    of    mind    was    accompanied,   or 
rather  was  the  result  of,  the  close  embraces  of     Divine  love.       It 
was  the  bitter  part  of  that  intimate  communion   with    God  which 
is    Granted    to    chosen    souls.        No     doubt    he    was    profoundly 
humiliated  by  the    disgrace    involved  in  his    failure  to  study,  but 
he  was  willing    to  suffer  that  external  degradation  which  was  the 
complement  of,  and  the  means  of  emphasizing,  the  teaching  of  the 
Holy    Spirit    in    his    interior,    as    well    as    the    means    of    purify- 
ing his  soul  more  and   more  perfectly.      In  after  years  he  related 
an  instance  of  his  lightness  of    heart,   a  natural    quality  which  he 
shared    with  his    companion,   Brother  Walworth.      The  bishop  of 
some  neighboring  diocese,  Aix-la-Chapelle,  if  we  remember  rightly, 
happening  to    visit    the    house  at  Wittem,  was    told  of  the    two 
American     students.       He    conversed  with    them    in    the    recrea- 
tion, the    language  being    French.     Then  he  said:   "  I  know  how 
to    read    English,  but    I   have    never   heard    it    spoken  ;    can    you 
not  speak  a  little  piece  for  me?"     "Certainly,"  was  the  answer. 
After  a  moment's  consultation  the  two  young  men  in  all  serious- 
ness   recited     together    "  Peter    Piper    picked    a    peck  of  pickled 
peppers,"  etc.     No  wonder  that  the  prelate  was  astonished  at  the 
peculiar   sound    of  English.     Then     he    asked    them  for    a  song. 
"Oh,  of  course,"  was  the  answer,  and  they  sang  in  unison  "The 
Carrion  Crow,"  with  full  chorus  and  imitations. 

Besides  taking  care  of  the  sick,  for  which  he  was  admirably 
fitted  by  nature,  Brother  Hecker  made  himself  generally  useful 
about  the  house.  He  spent  much  time  working  among  the 
brothers  in  the  kitchen,  and  the  writer  has  heard  him  say  that 
for  nearly  the  whole  of  his  stay  in  Wittem  he  baked  the  bread 
of  the  entire  community.  He  also  carried  in  the  fuel  for  the 
house,  using  a  crate  or  hod  hoisted  on  his  back. 

In  August,  1848,  Brother  Walworth  was  ordained  priest,  and 
it  was  decided  that  he  and  Brother  Hecker,  together  with  two 
young  Belgian  priests,  Fathers  Teunis  and  Lefevre,  should  pro- 
ceed to  England,  the  Redemptorists  having  been  recently  in- 
troduced there.  As  the  cassock  is  not  worn  in  the  streets  in 
England    they    were    sent    from    Wittem     to    Liege    and    there 


220  The  Life  of  Father  Hcekcr. 


equipped  with  clerical  suits,  the  tailor  being  cautioned  not  to 
be  too  ecclesiastical  in  the  cut  of  the  garments.  He  produced 
a  ridiculous  compromise  between  a  fashionable  frock-coat  and  a 
cassock,  the  waist  being  high  and  tight  and  the  tails  full  and 
flowing,  and  flopping  about  the  young  clerics'  heels.  As  they 
journeyed  from  Liege  to  Amsterdam,  and  thence  to  London, 
people  stopped  and  stared  at  them  in  their  stylish  array,  and 
some  lauehed  at  them.  In  this  instance  Brother  Hecker's  cha- 
grin  was  not  overcome  by  his  sense  of  the  ludicrous,  for  he  waS 
naturally  very  sensitive  of  personal  unbecomingness,  and  al- 
though not  precisely  a  martinet  for  clerical  exactness,  he  had 
strict    notions  of   propriety. 

The  new  Redemptorist  foundation  was  at  Clapham,  three 
miles  south  of  London  Bridge.  The  house  was  a  large,  old- 
fashioned  mansion  and  had  been  owned  by  Lord  Teignmouth,  a 
notorious  anti- Catholic  bigot.  Some  of  the  larger  rooms  had 
been  thrown  together  into  one,  and  this  was  used  temporarily  as 
a  public  chapel.  Just  as  the  young  Redemptorists  arrived, 
Father  Petcherine  was  preaching  to  the  congregation.  He  was 
a  Russian  convert,  and  the  new-comers  were  astonished  at  his 
good  English  and  his  eloquence.  He  was  one  of  the  many  ex- 
traordinary men  who  adorned  the  order  at  that  time.  He 
was  master  not  only  of  his  native  tongue,  but  of  English, 
German,  Italian,  French,  and  modern  Greek,  and  could  preach 
well  in  all  of  these  languages.  Clapham  was  reached  on  Sep- 
tember 23,  1848,  and  shortly  afterwards  Father  Walworth  was 
sent  to  do  missionary  as  well  as  parish  work  in  Worcestershire, 
and  remained  there  the  greater  part  of  the  two  years  which 
were  spent  by  our  Americans  in  England. 

From  Clapham  Brother  Hecker  wrote,  on  September  27, 
1848: 

"  I  am  at  present,  dear  mother,  in  a  newly- established  house 
in  the  city  of  London,  having  come  here  by  order  of  my  supe- 
riors to  continue  and  finish  my  studies.  Bodily  I  am  nearer  to 
you  than  I  was,  and  naturally  speaking  I  am  much  more  at 
home  here  than  I  was  on  the  Continent.  But  this  is  of  little  or 
no  moment,  for  a  good  religious  should  find  his  home  where 
he  can  best  execute  the  will  of  his  Divine  Master.  And  would 
you  not,  dear  mother,  rather  see  me  in  China  than  in  the 
United  States  if,  by  being  there,  I  should  be   more  agreeable  to 


Brother  Hecker  ordained  Priest.  221 


our  Blessed  Saviour,  who  left  the  house  of  His  Father  to  save  us 
poor  abandoned  sinners  upon  the  earth  ?  Our  house  here  is 
situated  somewhat  out  of  the  dense  and  busy  part  of  the  city, 
at  Clapham;  a  fine  garden  is  attached  to  it,  and  even  in  a 
worldly  view  I  could  not  desire  it  to  be  more  agreeable.  And 
did  not  our  Lord  promise  to  give  those  who  would  leave  all  to 
follow  Him,  '  a  hundred  fold  more  in  this  world  and  life  ever- 
lasting in  the  world  to  come  '?  Alas  !  how  many  profess  to  be- 
lieve in  the  Bible  and  have  no  faith  in  the  words  which  our 
Lord  spoke,"  etc.,  etc. 

The  difficulties  of  Wittem  were  not  abated  at  Clapham  ;  rather 
they  were    aggravated    by  Brother    Hecker    having    to  deal  with 
new  superiors.     "  I  remember  seeing  Hecker  at  Clapham,  looking 
hopelessly  into  his  moral  theology,"  said  Father  Walworth  to  the 
writer.      Father    Frederick  de   Held,   whom    we    left  in  Baltimore, 
had  returned  to  Europe,  being  Provincial  of  the  Belgian  Province, 
which  at  that  time  included  the   English  as  well  as  the  American 
missions.       It    must    have    seemed    strange    to    him    that    Brother 
Hecker    had    been  sent    to  England ;    he  had  no  house  of  studies 
to  put  him  into  and  could    give    him    no    regular    course    of    in- 
struction.     We    cannot     even    surmise    what    word    was    sent    to 
Father   de    Held  about  this  curious  young  man,   whom   early  one 
summer's    morning    three    years    before    he  had    seen  flitting  into 
Baltimore   and  out    of  it,  taking    with    him  the   Provincial's   i^ave 
to   enter  the  novitiate.      Perhaps  the  case  had    been    sent    to    him 
because  it  was  too  perplexing  for    any   authority  less  than    his  to 
settle.     At   any    rate,    it   placed    him    in  an  awkward  position,  to 
decide   the  case    of  this  lone  applicant  for  orders,  who  had  made 
no    studies    and    could    make    none,    and    yet    who     was    of   so 
marked  a    character,  so  full  of   life,  so   zealous,  working  willingly 
about   the  church,  eagerly  working    in  the  kitchen,    talking   deep 
philosophy    and   forming    plans    for    the    conversion    of   nations. 
His  case  was    peculiar.     The    difficulty   was  not    confined    to   the 
question    of  divinity    studies.       Brother    Hecker's    general    educa- 
tion   was    scant,  and  his    English   was    still    faulty.     And  yet    he 
was  silently  asking   ordination    in  a  preaching  order,   for  which  a 
thorough    education    is    a    prerequisite.     Father    de     Held,    there- 
fore, is    not    to    be  condemned    for    his    harshness    as  wanting    in 
sympathy   or    in    judgment    of    character.     Gold    is    tried    by  fire, 
and    fire    is    an    active    agent    and   a   painful    one.     But    Brother 


222  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

Hecker     soon      found     both     solace     and     assistance    in    a    new- 
friend. 

We  quote  from   the  memoranda : 

"  Father  de  Held  was  superior  at  Clapham  and  for  a  year  he 
treated  me  as  Henry  Suso  says  a  dog  treats  a  rag — he  took  me 
in  his  teeth  and  shook  me.  At  last  I  went  to  him  and  begged 
him  to  settle  my  case  one  way  or  the  other  :  ordain  me,  or  make 
a  lay  brother  of  me,  or  take  off  my  habit  and  dismiss  me  to  an- 
other order ;  though  I  told  him  that  would  be  like  taking  off 
my  skin.  Father  de  Buggenoms  then  went  my  surety.  He  had 
been  my  confessor  at  Clapham  and  was  then  absent.  But  he 
wrote  to  De  Held  that  he  would  guarantee  my  conduct  if  ordain- 
ed. De  Held  then  changed  and  became  my  fast  and  constant 
friend." 

This  is  the  first  mention  we  find  of  Father  de  Buggenoms. 
Father  Hecker  ever  venerated  him  and  cherished  his  memory  as 
that  of  a  saintly  friend  and  benefactor. 

On  another  occasion  we  find  a  fuller  account  of  the  same 
events  : 

"  Only  for  Father  de  Buggenoms  I  should  not  have  been  or- 
dained at  all." 

"Who  was  De  Buggenoms?" 

"  A  Belgian,  and  my  confessor  while  I  was  at  Clapham.  I 
was  there,  not  ordained,  nor  yet  making  my  studies.  I  had 
been  forced  to  give  them  up  ;  I  could  not  go  on  with  them. 
De  Held  did  not  know  what  to  make  of  me,  and  he  treated  me 
harshly  and  cruelly.  Finally  I  went  to  him  and  told  him  my 
thoughts;  I  said  I  was  absolutely  certain  I  had  a  religious 
vocation  ;  that  he  might  compel  me  to  take  off  the  habit,  but  it 
would  be  like  taking  off  my  skin  ;  and  so  on.  After  that  inter- 
view De  Held  changed  toward  me  and  was  ever  after  my  warm 
friend.  He  was  a  very  prominent  member  of  the  Congregation. 
You  know  he  came  within  a  few  votes  of  being  Rector-major. 
He  was  very  warm  in  his  sympathy  with  us  during  our  trouble  in 
Rome.  Well,  Heilig,  a  German,  was  about  coming  over  to  Eng- 
land as  superior.  He  had  been  my  director  for  two  years.  Be- 
fore he  came  he  wrote  me  a  letter  that  gave  me  indescribable 
pain.      He     wrote    that    I    must    change — that    I    was  all   wrong, 


BrotJicr  Hcckcr  ordained  Priest.  223 


-"3 


and  so  on.  I  answered  that  it  was  too  late  to  change ;  that  he 
had  been  my  director  for  two  years,  knew  me  well,  and  had 
been  cognizant  of  my  state  If  he  wanted  me  changed  he  must 
do  it  for  me,  for  I  did  not  see  how  to  do  it  for  myself.  When 
he  came,  De  Buggenoms  told  him  to  have  me  ordained,  set  me  to 
work  at  anything,  and  he  (Dc  Buggenoms)  would  be  responsible  for 
me  in  every  respect.  Heilig  complied.  I  asked  him  afterwards 
why  he  wrote  that  letter.  'Because,'  said  he,  'I  thought  you 
needed  to  be  tried  some  more.'  'Why,'  said  I,  'I  have  had 
nothing   but  trial  ever  since  I  came.'  " 

From  this  it  would  seem  that  the  case  was  finally  settled  by 
Father  Heilig  after  Father  de  Held's  departure  for  the  Continent, 
which  took  place,  as  well  as  we  can  discover,  some  time  in  the 
summer  of  1849.  Father  Heilig's  letter,  written  from  Liege,  is 
before  us;  it  is  dated  the  24th  of  March,  1849.  It  is  a  complete 
arraignment  of  Isaac  Hecker's  spiritual  condition.  It  is  gentle, 
considerate,  choice  of  terms,  but  condenses  all  that  could  be 
said  to  show  that  his  young  friend  had  been  deluded  by  a  vision- 
ary temperament,  applying  to  himself  what  he  had  read  in  mysti- 
cal treatises  and  the  lives  of  the  saints.  The  letter  was  indeed  a 
deadly  blow.  Father  Heilig  had  been  Brother  Hecker's  confessor 
for  two  years  at  Wittem,  and  had  at  least  tacitly  approved  his 
spirit;  and  now  came  his  condemnation.  No  wonder  that  Isaac 
was  profoundly  distressed  by  it.  Yet  his  conviction  of  the  validity 
of  his  inner  life  was  not  shaken  for  an  instant.  Nor  was  the  trial 
of  long  duration.  We  have  found  a  letter  from  Father  Heilig 
dated  two  months  later  than  the  one  we  have  been  considering-, 
and  it  is  full  of  messages  of  reassurance  and  encouragement.  The 
intervention  of  De  Buggenoms  completed  the  work.  It  is  possible 
that  Father  Heilig  had  not  simply  a  desire  to  test  Brother 
Hecker's  humility,  but,  by  studying  the  effect  of  the  trial  imposed, 
to  remove  doubts  still  lingering  in  his  own  mind.  Some  words 
in  both  the  letters  referred  to  lead  us  to  this  inference. 

Father  L'hoir  had  not  forgotten  his  young  friend,  who  re- 
ceived a  letter  from  him  a  couple  of  months  after  leaving  Wittem, 
which  breathes  in  every  word  the  tenderest  utterance  of  friend- 
ship ;  and  a  year  after,  another  one  similarly  affectionate,  congra- 
tulating him  on  his  ordination.  This  Father  L'hoir  must  have 
been  a  noble  soul  to  write  so  lovingly ;  we  wish  that  space  per- 
mitted  us  to  give  his  letters  to  the  reader. 


224  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


Amongst  the  papers  left  by  Father  Hecker  we  found  one 
carefully  preserved,  bearing  date  at  St.  Mary's.  Clapham,  the  feast 
of  St.  Raphael  (Oct.  24)  1848,  a  month  after  his  arrival  there. 
It  is  a  manuscript  of  thirty-nine  closely- written  pages  of  letter- 
paper.  It  is  an  account  of  conscience  made,  no  doubt,  to  Father 
de  Held,  though  its  preparation  may  have  occupied  some  of  his 
time  before  leaving  Wittem.  We  will  make  some  extracts.  It 
begins  thus : 

"  Before  commencing  what  is  to  follow,  I  cannot  resist  mak- 
ing the  confession  of  my  feebleness  and  incapacity  to  express 
even  conveniently  those  things  which  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  relate, 
that  I  may  walk  with  greater  security  and  quicker  step  in  the 
way  of  God.  It  would  not  surprise  me  if  one  who  has  not 
taken  the  pains  to  investigate  this  matter  sufficiently  should 
doubt  indeed  whether  such  singular  graces,  seeing  the  faults  I 
daily  commit  and  my  many  imperfections,  had  really  been  given 
to  such  an  individual.  A  similar  remark  to  this  was  made  by 
my  last  director.  But  this  is  a  cause  of  much  joy  and  con- 
solation to  me ;  (that  is  to  say)  that  my  interior  life  is  hid 
and  unknown  to  others  except  those  who  direct  me.  All  that 
I  can  adduce  in  behalf  of  its  truth  and  credibility  are  these 
words  of  sacred  Scripture :  Spiritus  ubi  vult  spirat  (the  Spirit 
breatheth  where  He  will)  ;  and,  ubi  autem  abundavit  delictum, 
superabundavit  gratia  (but  where  sin  abounded  there  did  grace 
more  abound.) 

"  At  that  time  (towards  the  end  of  the  novitiate)  I  felt  a 
special  attraction  and  devotion  toward  Our  Blessed  Lord  in  the 
Holy  Sacrament  and  an  almost  irresistible  desire  of  receiving 
the  blessed  Communion  of  Divine  love.  This  desire  so  far  from 
having  abated  has  greatly  increased,  so  that  I  have  a  constant 
hunger  and  thirst  for  Our  Lord  in  the  sacrament  of  His  body  and 
blood.  If  it  were  possible  I  would  desire  to  receive  no  other 
food  than  this,  for  it  is  the  only  nourishment  that  I  have  a  real 
appetite  for.  I  cannot  consider  it  other  than  the  source  and 
substance  of  my  whole  spiritual  and  interior  life.  The  day  on 
which  I  have  been  deprived  of  it  I  have  experienced  a  debility 
and  want  of  both  material  and  spiritual  life  like  one  who  is 
nearly  famished.  The  doctrine  of  the  real  presence  of  our  Lord 
seems  to  be  with  me  a  matter    of   conviction    arising  more  from 


Brother  Hcckcr  ordained  Priest.  225 

actual  experience  than  from  faith.  At  times,  when  I  would 
make  my  visit,  I  am  seized  with  such  a  violent  love  towards 
the  Blessed  Sacrament  that  I  am  forced  to  break  off  imme- 
diately, being  unable  to  support  the  attraction  of  the  Spouse,  the 
Beloved,  the  Only  One  of  my  soul.  For  some  time  back,  wher- 
ever I  may  be,  or  on  whatever  side  I  turn,  I  seem  to  feel  the 
presence  of  Our  Lord  in  the  Sacrament  in  the  tabernacle.  It 
seems  as  though  I  were  in  the  same  sphere  as  our  Lord  in  the 
sacrament,  where  there  appears  no  time  nor  space,  yet  both  are. 

•  -  •  •  •  •  ■ 

"  At  times,  especially  during  the  great  retreat  before  making 
the  vows,  I  was  as  it  were  inebriated  with  love,  so  that  I 
scarcely  knew  what  I   said  or  did. 

•  •  •  .  .  • 

"  This  was  the  stage  of  my  interior  life  on  entering  the  house 
of  studies  at  Wittem,  October,  1846.  Here  the  principal  acts  in 
all  my  spiritual  exercises  were  those  of  resignation  and  conform- 
ity to  the  will  of  God,  an  entire  fidelity  to  the  inspirations  and 
attractions  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  a  total  abandonment  of  my- 
self to  the  conduct  of  Divine  Providence.  God  seemed  always 
engaged  in  my  soul  by  means  of  His  grace  in  repressing  my 
own  activity.  The  end  of  my  proper  activity,  I  said  to  myself, 
is  its  destruction.  God  commands  a  total  and  entire  abandon- 
ment of  the  soul  to  Him  in  order  that  He  may  with  his  grace 
destroy  and  annihilate  all  that  He  finds  in  it  against  His  designs 
and  will.  God  at  times  seemed  to  demand  of  me  a  frightful  and 
heroic  abandonment  of  my  soul  to  His  good  pleasure.  God  alone 
knows  how  to  exercise  the  soul  in  virtue,  and  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  its  only  true  master  in  the  spiritual  life.  Not  only  did  the 
spirit  of  God  excite  and  elicit  in  me  voluntary  acts  of  self- 
abandonment,  but  often  my  soul  was  as  if  stripped  of  all  sup- 
port, and  placed,  as  it  were,  over  a  dark  and  unfathomable 
abyss,  and  thus  I  was  made  to  see  that  my  only  hope  was  to 
give  myself  up  wholly  to  Him.  The  words  of  Job  well  ex- 
press this  purgation  of  the  soul  when  he  says :  '  The  arrows 
of  the  Lord  are  in  me,  the  rage  whereof  drinketh  up  my  spirit, 
and  the  terrors  of  the  Lord  war  against  me.'  [Here  follow  other 
quotations  from  the  book  of  Job.]  Sometimes  these  pains  pene- 
trate into  the  remotest  and  most  secret  chambers  of  the  soul. 
The  faculties  arc  in  such  an  intensive  purgation  that  from  the 
excessive  pain  which  this  subtile  and  purifying  fire    causes    they 


226  The  Life  of  FatJier  Hccker. 

are  suspended  from  their  ordinary  activity,  and  the  soul,  incap- 
able of  receiving  any  relief  or  escaping  from  its  suffering,  has 
nothing  left  but  to  resign  itself  to  the  will  and  good  pleasure  of 
God.  Though  enveloped  with  an  unseen  but  no  less  real  fire, 
suffering  in  every  part,  limb,  and  fibre  from  indescribable  pains, 
fixed  like  one  who  should  be  forced  to  look  the  sun  constantly 
in  the  face  at  midday,  she  is  nevertheless  content,  for  she  has  a 
secret  consciousness  that  God  is  the  cause  of  all  her  sufferings, 
and  not  only  content — she  would  suffer  still  more  for  His  love." 

[Here  follows  an  account  of  the  mortifications  to  which 
this  interior  pressure  drove  him,  shortening  of  sleep,  wearing 
hair-shirts,  severe  discipline,  abstinence  and  fasting,  and  the 
like.] 

"  There  were  no  penances  that  I  have  read  of  that  seemed  to 
me  impossible.  The  vilest  habits  and  other  things  that  I  was 
allowed  to  wear  and  to  use  gave  me  the  greatest  pleasure.  The 
thought  of  not  having  wherewith  to  cover  my  nakedness,  to  be 
contemned,  ridiculed,  and  spit  upon,  gave  me  an  extreme  joy. 
My  delight  consisted  in  wanting  that  which  is  considered  neces- 
sary. .  .  .  All  this  I  did  not  only  do  without  reluctance, 
difficulty,  and  pain,  but  with  great  pleasure,  ease,  and  joy.  They 
seemed  as  nothing,  and  I  was  as  though  I  had  scarcely  need  of 
a  body  in  order  to  live,  or,  in  other  words,  it  seemed  that  I  lived 
for  the  most  part  independent  of  the  body. 

"  It  was  about  this  period  that  God  gave  me  the  grace  which 
I  had  long  desired  and  sighed  after :  to  be  able  to  act  and  suffer 
•  without  the  idea  of  any  recompense.  I  call  it  a  gift,  for  although 
I  had  so  long  wished  and  demanded  of  God  the  power  to  act 
and  to  love  Him  disinterestedly,  still  I  was  unable  to  do  so.  I 
felt  myself  a  slave  and  hireling  in  the  service  of  God,  and  this 
mortified  me  and  made  me  much  ashamed  of  myself.  But  when 
this  grace  was  given,  which  happened  unexpectedly,  I  could  not 
forbear  going  immediately  to  my  director  to  express  my  joy  of 
the  favor  I  had  received,  and  the  freedom  and  magnanimity  of 
soul  which  it  inspired  me  with.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the 
soul  has  no  idea  of  any  recompense,  for  she  has  it  tacitly,  but 
this  is  not  her  formal  intention  in  her  actions  ;  for  she  is  to  such 
a  degree  animated  to  act  for  the  good  pleasure  and  sole  glory 
of  God,  that  she  quasi  forgets  all  else. 


Brpiker  Hcckcr  ordained  Priest.  227 

"  Sometimes  I  have  felt  singularly  present  and  in  intimate 
communion  with  certain  of  the  saints,  such  as  St.  Francis  of  As- 
sisi,  St.  Bonaventure,  St.  Thomas,  St.  Peter  of  Alcantara,  our 
holy  father  Alphonsus,  etc.  During  this  time — and  sometimes  it 
is  for  many  days — the  life,  the  virtues,  the  spirit  with  which  the 
saint  acted  occupies  almost  exclusively  my  mind.  I  seem  to  feel 
their  presence  much  more  intimately  and  really  than  that  of 
those  who  are  around  me.  I  understand  and  comprehend  them 
better,  and  experience  a  more  salutary  influence  from  them  than 
perhaps  I  would  have  done  had  I  lived  and  been  with  them  in 
their  time.  .  .  .  Twice  I  remember  having  experienced  in 
this  manner  the  presence  of  Our  Blessed  Lord.  While  this  lasted 
I  felt  myself  altogether  another  person.  His  heroic  virtues,  His 
greatness,  tenderness,  and  love  seemed  to  inspire  me  with  such 
a  desire  to  follow  Him  and  imitate  His  example  that  I  lost  sight 
of  all  things  else.  His  presence  excited  in  me  a  greater  love  and 
esteem  for  the  Christian  virtues  than  I  could  have  acquired  other- 
wise in  years  and  years. 

"  About  the  commencement  of  the  second  year  of  studies, 
during  some  weeks  my  faculties  were  drawn  and  concentrated  to 
such  a  degree  towards  the  centre  of  my  soul  that  I  was  as  one 
bereft  of  his  exterior  senses  and  activity.  Before  the  vacation  I 
had  desired  to  pass  that  time  in  solitude  and  retreat,  but  it  was 
not  allowed." 

We  have  omitted  much  of  this  singular  document,  including 
detailed  accounts  of  supernatural  occurrences,  and  also  quotations 
from  the  works  of  Gorres,  St.  Teresa,  St.  John  of  the  Cross, 
St.  Bonaventure,  Father  Rigoleu,  Richard  of  St.  Victor,  Scara 
nielli's  Directorium  Mysticum,  and  other  mystical  writings.  These 
reierences  he  had  collected  to  certify  to  the  reality  of  his  ex- 
perience. 

Throughout  all  these  three  years  of  trial  he  had  employed 
what  he  calls  his  "  lucid  intervals  "  of  mental  power  in  studying 
in  his  own  way,  God  aiding  him  in  His  own  way  to  the  des- 
tined end,  as  He  had  hindered  him  from  choosing  any  other 
way.  These  intervals  seemed  so  slight  in  his  memory  that  the 
reader  has  seen  his  statement  that  he  had  not  studied  at  all. 
When  he  had  been  a  year  at  Clapham  he  was  found,  on  exami- 
nation, to  be  well  enough  prepared,  as  he  had  promised  he  would 
be.       Having  been  ordained  sub-deacon  and  deacon  at  Old  Hall 


228  The  Life  of  FatJier  Hccker. 

College,  by  Bishop  Wiseman,  he  was  ordained  priest  by  the  same 
prelate  in  his  private  chapel  in  London.  The  event  took  place 
on  the  23d  of  October,  1849,  the  feast  of  the  Most  Holy  Re- 
deemer. Father  Hecker  said  his  first  Mass  the  following  day  at 
Clapham,  that  being  the  feast  of  St.  Raphael  the  Archangel:  one 
year  from  the  date  of  his  account  of  conscience  written  out  and 
given  to  his  superiors. 

The  following  is  from  a  letter  to  his  mother  announcing  his 
ordination  : 

"Dear  MOTHER:  You  have  been  doubly  blessed  by  Al- 
mighty God  within  the  past  few  weeks.  Your  youngest  son 
has  been  ordained  priest  in  God's  one,  holy,  Catholic  Church, 
and  prays  for  you  daily  when  he  offers  up  to  God  the  precious 
body  and  blood  of  His  beloved  Son,  our  Lord  ;  and  besides  you 
have  received,  by  the  marriage  of  another  of  your  sons  [George], 
a  new  daughter,  who,  being  also  a  child  of  the  Holy  Church, 
must  be  kind,  dutiful,  pious,  fearing  God,  and  loving  above  all 
things  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ.  Are  not  these,  dear 
mother,  blessings  ?  Do  they  not  convey  to  your  heart  joy  and 
consolation?  They  ought  and  surely  do.  Your  latter  days 
dear  mother,  will  be  your  happiest." 

The  remainder  of  the  letter  is  filled  with  exhortations  to 
enter  the  Church,  and  arguments  drawn  from  Scripture. 

We  may  mention  a  letter  written  to  Father  Hecker  by 
Father  Heilig  on  the  eve  of  the  former's  departure  for  America ; 
a  message  full  of  affectionate  good  wishes  and  claims  of  friend- 
ship and  union  in  prayer  with  the  singular  young  pilgrim  from 
the  Western  World. 

The  following  extracts  from  the  memoranda  may  be  of  in- 
terest as  embodying  Father  Hecker's  views  of  how  to  study 
divinity,  resulting  from  his  own  experience  in  preparing  for  the 
priesthood  : 

"March,  1884. — I  told  Father  Hecker,  in  course  of  conversa- 
tion, about  my  reading  the  life  of  the  Cure  of  Ars.  He  said :  '  A 
saintly  man  indeed,  and  one  gifted  with  a  supernatural  char- 
acter to  an  extraordinary  degree.  But  it  seems  to  me  that  his 
biographer  misunderstood  him  somewhat.  He  seems  to  admit 
that  the  Cure  of  Ars  had  a    naturally    stupid    mind,  because    he 


Brother  Hcckcr  ordained  Priest. 


229 


had  so  much  difficulty  in  getting  through  his  studies  for  the 
priesthood.  The  truth,  probably,  was  that  just  at  that  time  the  su- 
pernatural action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  came  upon  him  and  incapaci- 
tated him  for  his  studies.  But  everything  about  his  after  life  shows 
that,  though  a  rustic  man,  he  had  a  good  mind,  a  keen  native 
wit,  quick  and  clear  perception.  I  had  something  the  same  dif- 
ficulty myself. 

"  During  my  novitiate  and  studies  one  of  my  great  troubles 
was  the  relation  between  infused  knowledge  and  acquired  knowl- 
edge ;  how  much  one's  education  should  be  by  prayer  and  how 
much  by  study;  the  relation  between  the  Holy  Ghost  and  pro- 
fessors. 

"  In  the  novitiate  they  were  all  too  much  on  the  passive  side 
— unbroken  devotional  and  ascetic  routine.  In  the  studentate, 
too  much  on  the  active  side — leaving  nothing  for  infused  science 
and  prayer  as  a  part  of  the  method  of  study.  They  soon  broke 
me  down.  I  told  them  so.  If  I  went  on  studying  I  would 
have  been  driven  mad.  Let  me  alone,  I  said.  Let  me  take  my 
own  way  and  I  will  warrant  that  I  will  know  enough  to  be  or- 
dained when  the  time  comes.  They  said  I  was  a  scandal. 
Then  they  sent  me  to  England  to  De  Held.  I  am  persuaded  that 
in  the  study  of  divinity  not  enough  room  is  given  to  prayer  and 
not  enough  account-  made  of  infused  science." 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

A    REDEMPTORIST    MISSIONARY. 

"  1    WOULD  not  have  become  a  priest  had    I    lived  in  Europe, 
1     for  I  never  had  or  could  have  any  strong  attrait  for  sacer- 
dotal functions.     But  I  felt    that    the    Church  in  America  was  in 
need  of  all  the  help  that  could  be  given  by  her  children  for  the 
work  of  the  priesthood."     Father  Hecker  said  this  when  near  his 
end,  and  a  full    knowledge  of    his    character    bore    him  out  in  it. 
The  sacerdotal,  the  ecclesiastical,  were  qualities  which  he  had  as- 
sumed with   full  consciousness  of   their   sanctity,  yet  they    united 
with  his  other    characteristics   in    a   way  to    leave    traces    of   the 
point  of    contact.     He    was    certainly    an    edifying  priest,  and  to 
hear  his  Mass  was  to  be  spiritually  elevated  by  his  joyous  fervor. 
But  you  would  never  say  of  him  "  he  is  a  thorough  ecclesiastic, 
he  is  a    typical    priest."     The    external    aids    of    religion  he  im- 
parted with  a  reverence  which  displayed  his    faith    in  his  priestly 
character  as  a   dispenser    of    the    sacramental    mysteries   of    God. 
But  the  other  mysteries  of    God  which  are    hidden  in    his  provi- 
dential guidance  of  men,  he    could    expound    with    the  instinctive 
familiarity    of    a    native    gift ;    the  voice    of    God    in    nature,    in 
reason,    and    in    conscience,  and     its     response    in    revelation,    he 
could  elicit  with  a  power  and  unction  rarely  met  with.       He  has 
left    the    following  words    on    record:     "After    my  ordination   the 
duties  of  the  sacred   ministry  appeared  to  me  most  natural;    the 
hearing  of    confessions    and    the    direction    of   souls  was    as  if    it 
had    been    a    thing    practised    from    my    childhood,     and    was    a 
source  of  great  consolation." 

The  year  spent  in  England  after  ordination  was  occupied  by 
Father  Hecker  mainly  in  parochial  duties  at  Clapham  and  some 
neighboring  stations  attended  by  the  Redemptorists  of  that 
house.  Father  Walworth  enjoyed  some  missionary  experience 
with  Fathers  Pecherine  and  Buggenoms,  but  Father  Hecker  had 
only  been  at  one  or  two  small  retreats — one  at  Scott- Murray's 
estate  in  company  with  Father  Ludwig  and  another  at  that  of 
Weld-Blundells  in  Lancashire;  but  in  neither  of  these  had  he 
preached  or  given  any  instructions,  serving  only  in  the  confes- 
sional and  in  hunting  up  obstinate  sinners.  He  certainly  did 
preach    once    before    leaving    England,    perhaps    only    once,    and 

that    was    at    Great    Marlowe,    near    London,    in    the    church   built 

230 


A   Rcdcmptorist  Missionary.  231 


by  the  Hornihold  family.*  It  was  on  Easter  Sunday,  1850,  and 
was  well  remembered  by  Father  Hecker  and  referred  to  in 
after  years.  He  thought  the  sermon  a  good  one  as  a  begin- 
ning, but  it  seems  to  have  given  him  no  encouragement,  and 
we  venture  to  think  that  if  it  profited  his  hearers  somewhat  it 
also  amused  them  a  little.  He  needed  a  teacher,  and  he  found 
one  in  Father  Bernard,  the  newly  appointed  provincial  of  the 
American  province. 

In  1850  Father  Bernard  Joseph  Hafkenscheid  *  was  made 
Provincial  of  the  Redemptorist  houses  in  America.  His  patro- 
nymic was  too  formidable  for  ordinary  use,  and  he  was  univer- 
sally known  as  Father  Bernard.  He  was  in  the  prime  of  life  on 
taking  this  office,  and  although  he  had  spent  twenty  years  on 
the  missions  in  Holland,  his  native  country,  in  Belgium  and 
England,  he  yet  showed  no  signs  of  these  labors ;  he  continued 
them  for  fourteen  years  longer,  for  the  most  of  the  time  in  the 
Netherlands,  his  death  resulting  from  accident  in  1865.  By 
common  consent  he  is  ranked  in  the  highest  order  of  popular 
preachers.  He  had  entered  the  community  from  the  secular 
priesthood  shortly  after  his  ordination  ;  he  had  made  a  brilliant 
course  of  studies  at  Rome,  which  was  crowned  by  the  doctorate 
of  the  Roman  College.  He  was  physically  a  tall,  powerful  man, 
and  of  majestic  bearing.  His  features  were  full  of  intelligence, 
his  glance  penetrating,  his  voice  clear,  sympathetic,  and  vibrat- 
ing, his  gestures  expressive.  If  half  that  is  handed  down  of 
Father  Bernard  be  true,  he  was  a  wonderful  preacher  of  penance 
and  of  hope,  his  high  gifts  of  natural  eloquence  served  by  a 
perfect  education  and  inspired  by  a  most  enthusiastic  love  of 
the  people. 

He  was  a  popular  preacher  in  the  best  sense  of  the  term, 
calm  in  demeanor  and  simple  in  language  as  he  opened,  but 
when  at  the  point  of  fervor  pouring  forth  his  soul  in  a  fiery 
torrent  of  oratory,  whose  only  restraint  was  the  inability  of  the 
human  voice  to  express  all  that  the  heart  contained.  In  style 
impassioned,  he  yet  often  chose  language  bordering  on  the 
familiar,  but  was  not  vulgar.  He  is  an  instance  of  the  fallacy 
of  the  saying  that  the  preacher  must  stoop  to  his  auditory  if  he 
would  be    pcoular.     Father  Bernard    was    ever    true     to    himself, 

*The  reader  is  referred  to  his  life  by  Canon  Claessens  (Catholic  Publication  Society  Co.) 
It  is  all  too  brief,  yet  is  a  good  summary  of  the  career  of  the  great  Redemptorist  mis- 
sionary, one  of  St.  Alphonsus'  noblest  sons. 


232  The  Life  of  FatJicr  Hccker. 


never  appeared  less  than  an  educated  priest  and  grave  religious, 
and  yet  he  was  a  most  popular  preacher.  The  great  truths  of 
eternal  life  are  a  universal  heritage,  and  the  use  of  plain 
words  is  not  getting  down  from  good  style  even  in  the  literary 
sense,  and  a  familiar  manner  is  a  trait  of  affection.  We  have 
stopped  the  reader  for  this  moment  with  Father  Bernard  because 
he  was  Father  Hecker's  teacher  of  mission  preaching  and  in- 
structing, and  was  ever  beloved  by  him  as  an  appreciative 
friend  and  a  wise  and  indulgent  preceptor.  He  had  made  his 
first  visit  to  America  with  Father  de  Held  in  1845,  but  remained 
only  a  few  months  to  acquire  information  and  gain  impressions 
for  a  report  to  the  Rector  Major.  He  made  a  second  voyage 
in  January,  1849,  acting  as  superior  of  the  American  houses,  as 
Vice  Provincial,  and  remained  about  eighteen  months.  The 
United  States  now  forming  a  separate  province  and  Father  Ber- 
nard made  Provincial,  he  demanded  Fathers  Hecker  and  Wal- 
worth as  his  subjects,   and  they  were  given  to  him. 

A  letter  from  Father  Hecker  announces  his  departure  for  New 
York  as  fixed  for  some  time  in  October,  1850;  but  delays  oc- 
curred, and  the  following  is  an  extract  from  one  to  his  mother, 
dated  January  17,  1851  ;  it  says  that  the  departure  is  fixed  for 
some  day  the  same  month : 

"  Oh  !  may  Almighty  God  prosper  our  voyage,  and  may  His 
sweet  and  blessed  Mother  be  our  guide  and  protector  on  the 
stormy  sea.  And  may  my  arrival  in  America  be  for  the  good 
of  many  souls  who  are  still  wandering  out  of  the  one  flock  and 
away  from  the  one  shepherd !  I  hope  that  to  no  one  will  it  be  of 
more  consolation  and  benefit  than  to  you,  my  dearest  mother." 

The  ship  was  named  the  Helvetia  and  sailed  from  Havre  the 
27th  of  January,  the  captain  being  a  genuine  down-east  Yankee, 
and  the  crew  a  mixed  assortment  of  English  and  American  sail- 
ors. Father  Bernard's  party  consisted  of  Fathers  Walworth, 
Hecker,  Landtsheer,  Kittell,  Dold,  and  Giesen,  and  the  students 
Hellemans,  Miiller,  and  Wirth,  the  American  fathers  having  come 
to  Havre  from  London  by  way  of  Dover,  Calais,  and  Paris. 
The  weather  was  unfavorable  during  nearly  the  entire  voyage, 
the  ship  being  driven  back  into  the  English  Channel  and  forced 
to  anchor  in  the  Downs.  They  were  beaten  about  for  two  weeks 
before  they  got  fairly  upon  the  Atlantic,   and    while  crossing   the 


A  Rcdcmptorist  Missionary.  233 


Newfoundland  banks  were  in  danger  from  icebergs.  Nearly  all 
the  party  were  more  or  less  sea-sick,  including  Father  Hecker. 
This  did  not  prevent  his  attempting  the  conversion  of  the  boat- 
swain, who  seemed  the  only  hopeful  subject  in  the  ship's  com- 
pany. There  were  a  hundred  and  thirty  steerage  passengers, 
emigrants  for  the  most  part  from  Protestant  countries,  though  a 
party  of  Garibaldian  refugees  and  a  few  equally  wild  Frenchmen 
enlivened  the  monotony  of  sea-life  by  some  bloody  fights.  There 
were  but  two  cabin  passengers  besides  the  Redemptorists,  and 
the  former  being  confined  to  their  staterooms  by  nearly  continual 
sea-sickness,  the  cabin  was  turned  into  a  "  floating  convent," 
to  borrow  Father  Dold's  expression  in  a  long  letter  descrip- 
tive of  the  voyage,  given  by  Canon  Claessens  in  his  Life  of 
Father   Bernard. 

The  wintry  and  stormy  voyage  had  already  tested  the  mission- 
aries' patience  for  some  weeks,  when  Father  Bernard  informed  the 
captain  that  he  and  his  companions  were  going  to  make  a  novena 
to  St  Joseph  to  arrive  at  New  York  on  or  before  his  feast,  March 
the  19th.  "St.  Joseph  will  have  to  do  his  very  prettiest  to  get 
us  in,"  was  the  answer.  And  when  the  ship  was  still  far  to  the 
east,  being  off  the  banks,  and  the  weather  quite  unfavorable,  and 
only  three  days  left  before  the  feast,  the  captain  called  out :  "  St. 
Joseph  can't  do  it — give  it  up,  Father  Bernard."  But  the  latter 
would  still  persevere ;  and  that  night  the  wind  changed.  The 
Yankee  ship  now  flew  along  at  the  rate  of  fourteen  miles  an  hour. 
When  the  eve  of  St.  Joseph's  Day  came  they  were  wrapped  in 
a  dense  fog,  and  the  captain,  dreading  the  nearness  of  the  coast, 
hove  to.  When  day  dawned  the  fog  lifted,  and  the  ship  was 
found  to  be  off  Long  Branch,  and  a  wrecked  ship  was  seen  on 
the  shore ;  she  had  been  driven  there  during  the  night.  The 
pilot  soon  came  aboard  and  they  sailed  through  the  Narrows  and 
into  the  harbor  of  New  York,  having  spent  fifty-two  days  on  the 
ocean.  As  they  approached  the  city  a  little  tug-boat  was  seen 
coming  to  meet  them.  It  bore  George  and  John  Hecker  and 
Mr.  McMaster,  whose  cordial  greetings  were  the  first  welcome 
the  young  Redemptorists  heard  on  their  return  to  the  New 
World.  They  were  soon  at  tluir  home  in  the  convent  in  Third 
Street,  and  on  the  sixth  of  April  following  the  first  mission  was 
opened    in  St.  Joseph's  Church,  Washington   Place,   New  York. 

Here  is    Dr.   Brownson's  greeting,  from   his    home  in  Chelsea, 
Mass.,  received  by  Father  Hecker  soon  after  his    arrival : 


234  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


"  My  very  dear  friend,  you  cannot  imagine  what  pleasure  it 
gives  me  to  learn  of  your  arrival  in  New  York.  ...  I  want  to  see 
you  much,  very  much.  You  have  much  to  tell  me  that  it  is 
needful  that  I  should  know,  and  I  beg  you  to  come  to  see  me. 
Tell  your  superiors  from  me  that  your  visit  to  me  will  be  more 
than  an  act  of  charity  to  me  personally,  and  that  it  is  highly 
necessary — not  merely  as  a  matter  of  pleasure  to  us  two — that 
we  should  meet ;  and  tell  them  that  I  earnestly  beg  to  have 
you  come  and  spend  a  few  days  with  me.  I  am  sure  that  they 
will  permit  you  to  do  so  in  furtherance  of  the  work  in  which  I 
as  well  as  you  are  engaged,  and  I  have  a  special  reason  for 
wishing  to  see  you  now.  I  would  willingly  visit  you  at  New 
York  or  anywhere  in  the  United  States,  but  there  is  no  place  so 
appropriate  as  my  own  house.  ...  I  am  more  indebted  to  you 
for  having  become  a  Catholic  than  to  any  other  man  under 
heaven,  and  while  you  supposed  I  was  leading  you  to  the 
church,  it  was  you  who  led  me  there.  I  owe  you  a  debt  of 
gratitude  I  can  never  repay.  .  .  .  Come,  if  possible,  and  as  soon 
as  possible." 

At  the  Third  Street  house  the  new-comers  found  Father 
Augustine  F.  Hewit,  a  convert  from  the  Episcopal  Church,  in 
which  he  had  tarried  for  a  few  years  on  his  way  from  Calvinism 
to  the  true  religion.  He  had  been  a  secular  priest  for  a  short  time 
previous  to  entering  the  order.  He  was  directed  to  join  the  newly- 
formed  missionary  band,  and  was  destined  to  be  more  to  Father 
Hecker  than  any  other  man,  and  to  succeed  him  as  superior  of 
the  Paulist  community. 

After  more  than  five  years'  absence  Father  Hecker  thus  finds 
himself  in  America,  the  land  of  his  apostolate,  a  member  of  a 
missionary  community  whose  external  vocation  is  the  preaching 
of  penance,  and  the  conversion  of  sinful  Catholics  to  a  good 
life.  A  mission  is  a  season  of  renewal  of  the  religious  life 
among  the  people  of  a  parish.  It  is  a  course  of  spiritual  ex- 
ercises in  which  the  principles  of  religion  are  called  forth  and 
placed  in  more  active  control  of  men's  conduct,  and  by  means 
of  which  their  emotional  nature  is  stimulated  to  grief  for  sin, 
love  of  God,  yearning  for  eternal  happiness.  The  sermons  and 
instructions  are  given  twice,  and  sometimes  oftener,  each  day, 
during  the  early  mornings  and  in  the  evenings.  These  exercises 
are    conducted     in     the     parish     church,    but    not    by    the    parish 


A   Rcdcmptorist  Missionary.  235 


clergy.  The  people  see  among  them  the  members  of  a  religious 
order,  men  set  apart,  by  the  interior  touch  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
and  the  public  approval  of  the  church,  for  this  particular  work — 
powerful  preachers,  confessors-  as  indefatigable  as  they  are  pa- 
tient, priests  full  of  masterful  zeal,  moving  in  disciplined  accord 
together  against  vice.  The  call  they  address  to  the  people  is 
the  peremptory  one  :  "  Do  penance,  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
is  at  hand."  Their  words  are  given  forth  not  from  the  usual 
pulpit,  but  from  a  platform  at  the  communion  railing,  and  in 
the  presence  of  a  high  black  cross  set  up  in  the  sanctuary. 
They  wear  no  surplice  or  stole  while  preaching,  the  only  in- 
signia of  their  office  being  a  crucifix  on  their  breasts.  The 
bishop  usually  extends  to  them  greater  powers  than  are  com- 
monly given  for  reconciling  sinners  who  have  incurred  eccle- 
siastical censures.  The  Holy  See  empowers  them  to  extend  the 
most  abundant  spiritual  favors  in  its  gift  in  the  form  of  indul- 
gences, and  the  pastor  informs  the  congregation  several  Sundays 
beforehand  that  he  expects  the  entire  Catholic  population  of 
his  parish  to  attend  the  mission  and  receive  the  sacraments. 

To  be  absorbed  in  such  labors  as  above  described  was  not 
the  primary  object  of  Father  Hecker's  vocation,  but  he  accepted 
his  place  joyfully  as  chosen  by  the  evident  will  of  God.  The 
missionary  life  was  never  in  his  eyes  what  the  reader  might 
surmise  it  to  be — a  mere  interlude  in  his  career,  a  period  of 
patient  waiting.  Such  is  far  from  having  been  the  case.  The 
missions  are  eminent  works  of  Catholic  zeal,  and  there  is  not 
any  vocation  known  to  the  active  ministry  which  may  not  com- 
mute with  them  on  equal  terms.  Human  nature  has  never  felt 
influences  more  deeply  religious  than  .those  set  at  work  by  mis- 
sions, recalling  the  effects  of  the  preaching  of  the  Apostles  them- 
selves. Remorse  of  conscience,  loathing  for  sin,  terror  at  the 
divine  wrath,  confidence  in  God,  sympathy  for  our  crucified 
Saviour,  the  ecstatic  joy  of  the  new-found  divine  friendship,  utter 
contempt  for  the  maxims  of  the  world,  iron  determination  to 
love  God  to  the  end — these  are  the  sentiments  which,  by  the 
preaching  of  missions,  are  made  to  dominate  entire  parishes  in  a 
degree  simply  marvellous.  Nor  can  it  be  said  that  these  dispo- 
sitions are  fleeting.  Allowing  for  exceptions,  especially  in  large 
cities,  their  permanency  is  often  an  evidence  of  the  solidity  of 
the  motives  which  inspired  them,  as  well  as  of  the  supernatural 
graces  which  gave    them    life.     Every  missionary  will    bear  wit- 


236  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

ness,  as  Father  Hecker  often  did,  that  he  has  never  assisted  at 
a  mission  in  which  he  was  not  profoundly  impressed  by  the 
tears  of  hardened  sinners.  Every  parish  priest,  however  much 
he  may  regret  the  backsliding  of  some,  will  testify  to  the  valu- 
able results  of  missions  among  his  people :  the  quickening  of 
faith  and  the  revival  of  supernatural  motives,  drunkards  re- 
formed, restitutions  made,  lust  cleansed  away,  families  united, 
the  church  thronged  with  worshippers,  saloons  deserted.  Father 
Hecker  never  thought  that  all  this  was  too  dearly  bought  by 
the  dreary  toil  of  the  confessional,  the  discomforts  of  for  ever 
changing  residences  and  living  in  strange  places,  nor  even  by 
the  growing  nerve-troubles  which  the  fathers  are  often  subject 
to,  from  brains  superheated  over  and  over  again  in  the  burn- 
ing fires  of  mission  preaching.  Father  Hecker  did  not  think 
the  privileges  of  such  a  life  too  dearly  bought  even  by  the 
postponement  of  his  proper  apostolate,  and  was  ever  glad  of  his 
labors  as  a  missionarv. 

They  schooled  him  in  public  speaking.  In  his  antecedents 
there  was  abundant  reason  for  diffidence,  and  he  knew  full  well 
that  what  was  good  enough  language  for  an  harangue  to  the 
Seventh  Ward  Democracy  would  be  ridiculous  in  a  Catholic 
pulpit.  Nor  was  he  deceived  into  the  notion  of  his  ability  to 
preach  because  he  could  influence  men  in  private.  Conversa- 
tion is  not  public  speaking,  and  the  defects  of  grammar,  or  any 
other  such  defects,  if  pardoned  in  an  earnest  and  honest  man 
in  private  interchange  of  views,  if  committed  on  the  public 
rostrum  are  unpardonable  and  are  usually  fatal.  Father  Hecker 
found  in  the  incessant  practice  of  the  missionary  platform,  and 
in  the  assistance  of  his  present  superior,  exactly  what  he  need- 
ed by  way  of  preparation.  Besides  the  mission  sermon  at 
night — the  great  sermon,  as  it  was  called — there  is  a  short  doc- 
trinal instruction  at  the  same  service  and  a  moral  one  on  the 
sacraments  or  commandments  in  the  morning.  These  became 
his  share  of  the  mission  preaching,  and  the  school  in  which 
he  acquired  that  direct,  convincing,  and  popular  manner  of  dis- 
course for  which  he  was  afterwards  renowned  as  a  lecturer. 

We  find  the  following  among  the  memoranda  : 

"  When  I  came  over  to  America  with  Fathers  Bernard  and 
Walworth,  Bernard  wanted  to  know  what  I  could  do.  Well,  by 
that    time    I    had    given    up    all    hopes  of    any  public    career.      I 


A   Redcmptorist  Missionary.  237 


couldn't  preach.  My  memory  and  intellectual  faculties  generally 
were  so  influenced  by  my  interior  state  that  theology  was  out 
of  the  question.  The  lights  that  God  had  given  me  about  the 
future  state  of  religion  in  this  country  were  still  clear  as  ever, 
but  I  thought  that  I  should  have  to  confine  myself  to  impart- 
ing them  to  particular  and  individual  souls  whom  the  provi- 
dence of  God  should  throw  in  my  way ;  for  I  was  persuaded 
that  the  Rcdemptorist  community  was  unfitted  for  the  future 
work  I  had  caught  a  glimpse  of,  and  I  was  entirely  contented 
to  live  and  die  a  Rcdemptorist,  and  was  quite  certain  that 
I  should.  So,  when  Bernard  asked  me  what  I  could  do,  I 
told  him  to  get  me  some  place  as  chaplain  of  a  prison  or 
public  institution  of  charity,  as  that  was  about  all  that  I  was 
capable  of.     But  he  thought  differently. 

"  My  first  instructions  on  the  missions  were  almost  word  for 
word  given  me  by  Bernard.  I  didn't  seem  to  have  a  single 
thought  of  my  own." 

To  preach,  whether  to  Catholics  or  to  non-Catholics,  one 
must  learn  how,  and  Father  Hecker  with  all  his  gifts  knew 
that  this  gift  seldom  comes  from  above  except  by  way  of  re- 
ward for  steady  labor.  The  opportunity  of  the  missions,  and 
of  Father  Bernard  as  a  guide,  was  eagerly  accepted  in  lieu  of 
the  prison  chaplaincy. 

The  missions  also  enabled  him  to  know  the  Catholic  people. 
The  non-Catholics  he  already  knew  from  vivid  recollection  of  his 
own  former  state  and  from  that  of  his  early  surroundings; 
Brook  Farm  and  Fruitlands  had  completed  his  knowledge  of  the 
outside  world  ;  but  the  Redemptorist  novitiate  and  studentate 
and  his  sojourn  in  England  did  not  give  him  a  similar  knowl- 
edge of  the  Catholic  people,  priesthood,  and  hierarchy.  To  the 
average  looker-on  Catholicity  is  what  Catholics  are,  and  Catholics 
in  America  viewed  from  a  standpoint  of  morality  were  then  and 
still  are  a  very  mixed  population.  Why  the  fruits  are  worse 
than  the  tree  is  a  sore  perplexity  even  to  expert  controversialists, 
and  Father  Hecker  had  need  to  equip  himself  well  for  meeting 
that  difficulty,  a  patent  one  in  the  rushing  tide  of  stricken  im- 
migrants then  pouring  into  America.  The  missions  are  an  un- 
equalled school  for  learning  men.  All  men  and  women  in  a 
parish  are  made  known  to  the  missionary,  for  they  walk  or 
stumble  through  his  very   soul. 


238  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 


Nor  can  one  fail  to  see  the  use  of  missions  as  an  evidence 
to  the  non- Catholic  public  itself  of  the  supernatural  power  of 
Catholicity  over  men's  lives.  To  practical  people  like  Americans 
there  is  no  oral  or  written  evidence  of  the  true  religion  so  valid 
as  the  spectacle  of  its  power  to  change  bad  men  into  good  ones. 
Such  a  people  will  accept  arguments  from  history  and  from 
Scripture,  but  those  of  a  moral  kind  they  demand ;  they  must 
see  the  theories  at  work.  A  mission  is  a  microcosm  of  the 
church  as  a  moral  force.  It  shows  a  powerful  grasp  of  human 
nature  and  an  easy  supremacy  over  it.  It  is  an  energetic, 
calm,  and  clean-sweeping  influence  for  good,  bold  in  its 
choice  of  the  most  sublime  truths  of  supernatural  religion  as  the 
sole  motives  of  repentance.  And  it  uniformly  achieves  so  com- 
plete a  victory  over  the  best-entrenched  vices  that  non-Catholic 
prejudice  is  invariably  shaken  at  the  spectacle.  And  in  A-nerica 
the  pioneer  work  of  the  apostolate  must  be  to  remove  prejudice. 
The  character  of  the  men  who  conduct  these  exercises,  their 
courage,  intelligence,  devotedness,  discipline,  and  ready  command 
of  the  people  ;  the  indiscriminate  humanity  which  rushes  to  hear 
them,  to  pray,  to  confess  their  sins,  to  listen  with  mute  atten- 
tion— long  before  day- break  and  in  the  hours  of  rest  after  work 
— all  regardless  of  social  differences  or  of  moral  ones,  soon  be- 
come well  known  to  the  public  and  generally  excite  comment 
in  the  press.  All  this  contributes  to  prepare  non-Catholics  to 
hear  from  the  same  teachers  the  invitation  which  our  Lord  in- 
tended in  saying :  "  Other  sheep  I  have  which  are  not  of  this 
fold;  them  also  must  I  bring,  and  they  shall  hear  my  voice, 
and  there  shall  be  one  fold  and  one  shepherd." 

Furthermore,  it  was  necessary  that  Father  Hecker  should  be 
made  personally  known  to  the  bishops  and  priests  of  the  coun- 
try. The  time  was  coming  when  he  would  have  a  public  cause 
to  advance,  and  their  approval  is  a  necessary  sign  of  divine 
favor.  Now,  the  missionary  is  closely  studied  by  them  and  soon 
is  intimately  known,  for  there  are  too  many  things  in  common 
between  priests  but  that  they  can  readily  test  each  other. 
Before  the  Paulist  community  had  been  organized,  Father  Hecker 
had  been  the  guest  of  the  most  prominent  clergymen  of  the 
entire  United  States,  and  of  many  even  in  the  British  Provinces, 
and  was  a  well-known  man  throughout  the  Catholic  community. 
Meantime  the  humiliations  of  his  study-time  had  been  quickly 
recovered  from,  if  they  had  ever  been  a  real  hindrance  to  public 


A   Redemptorist  Missionary.  239 

effort,  and  we  find  no  sign  of  protest  on  hii  part  or  of  request 
to  be  let  off  from  giving  instructions  beyond  his  answer  to 
Father  Bernard  as  above  recorded.  As  he  loved  his  vows  as  a 
Redemptorist,  so  he  loved  the  work  of  the  missions,  because  they 
were  God's  will  for  him;  because  they  are  a  work  of  the  highest 
order  of  good  for  souls  ;  because  the  reputation  of  Catholicity  is 
always  raised  in  a  community  by  a  mission,  and  a  good  name  is 
necessary  for  a  controversial  standing;  because  in  them  he 
daily  learned  more  of  men  and  of  the  means  to  win  then  ;  and 
because  the  members  of  the  divine  order  of  the  episcopate  and 
secular  priesthood  must  be  well  known  by  him  and  he  well 
known  to  them  before  any  extensive  work  could  be  done  among 
non-Catholics;  and  the  missionary  becomes  a  familiar  friend 
everywhere  he  goes.  Hence  controversial  sermons  were  some- 
times preached  during  the  missions,  lectures  of  the  same  sort 
given  after  them,  and  during  their  continuance  many  converts 
received  into  the  church.  Father  Hacker,  as  we  have  tried  to 
show  the  reader,  was  a  very  observant  nature,  always  learning 
lessons  from  life,  and  ready  to  try  his  'prentice  hand  on  what 
material  offered  in  the  way  of  converting  Protestants  at  every 
opportunity  public  and    private. 

Nevertheless,  the  missions  could  not  be  made  the  ordinary 
channel  of  direct  influences  for  turning  sceptics  and  Protestants 
to  the  true  religion.  The  attempt  to  make  them  so,  involving, 
as  it  does,  a  notable  interspersion  of  controversial  sermons,  has 
never  been  tried  by  the  Redemptorist  or  Paulist  Fathers  to 
our  knowledge,  and  when  done  by  others  has  resulted  in  not 
enough  of  controversy  for  making  solid  converts,  and  too  little 
penitential  preaching  for  the  proper  reformation  of  hard  sinners 
among  Catholics.  Father  Hecker  fully  appreciated  this.  He 
threw  himself  into  the  mission  work  just  as  it  was  with  the 
utmost  ardor,  and  learning  from  Father  Bernard  how  to  prepare 
the  matter  for  the  morning  and  evening  instructions,  his  natural 
gifts,  together  with  hints  and  suggestions  from  his  brethren, 
supplied  him  with  the  best  possible  manner  of  giving  them. 
The  writer  has  often  served  on  missions  in  parishes  where 
Father  Bernard's  new-formed  band  had  preached  in  former 
years,  and  the  testimony  is  universal  that  as  a  doctrinal  and 
moral  instructor  Father  Hecker  was  unequalled  among  mis- 
sionaries. He  was  so  frank,  so  clear,  so  lively,  so  impressible, 
and,  in  a  certain  way,  so  humorous,   that    he  carried    the    people 


240  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker, 


away    with     him.       And    he     carried    them     all,     high     and     low, 
learned    and    simple.      With    persons    of   education     his     homely 
words    did    not    break    the    charm,   nor    did    his    simple    but    ex- 
tremely well  chosen    illustrations  do  so — all  taken,  as  they    were, 
from  common    life  or    the    lives    and  writings  of   the  saints.      He 
never    preached    the    great    sermons  and    never  aspired  to  do  it. 
He    never    sought    to    arouse    terror    or    to    be    pathetic.       He 
always    reasoned    and    instructed.     In    truth,    he    was    not    com- 
petent   to    deal    adequately  with    such    subjects    as    Death,  Judg- 
ment, and    Hell — that    is    to  say,    as  they   are  preached    at    mis- 
sions, for    the    emotions    have    honest    rights    on    such   occasions, 
and    Father    Hecker    acknowledged    his   deficiency    in    emotional 
oratory.      But,    to    tell    you    the    qualities    of   true    sorrow,    or    to 
show    you    how  to  make  a  true  confession,  to  picture    the    man- 
liness of  virtue    and    the  dignity  of    the  Christian    state,   he    was 
unsurpassed.      And    the    general    effect    remaining    after    his    in- 
structions was  always  a  bright  understanding  of  just  what  to  do 
for  a  good  life,  with  many  happy  examples    to  aid  the  memory, 
together    with    a    strong    personal    affection    for    the    holy    man 
who    showed     religion     to    be    a     most     happy    as    well    as     most 
reasonable    service  of  God.     To  his  penitents    in    the  confessional 
he  was  ever  most  kind  and  patient.      "  No  school  of  perfection," 
he    once    said,    "  can    equal    the    self-denial    necessary    to    hear 
confessions    well."      God     is     now     rewarding    him,    we    trust,    for 
the    cheerful,    often    even    bantering,  words  of  encouragement    he 
gave     to    the     multitudes     of     poor     sinners    who    knelt    at    his 
feet    during    the     toilsome     years     he     spent    on     the     missions; 
and  for  the  enlightenment  and  encouragement  of  his  big-hearted 
influence,  and  for   his  trumpet  notes  of   hope  in  the  early  morn- 
ing instructions.     After  the  hard   pounding  of  the  night  sermons 
it  is  always  sought   to  pick    the    sinner  up  out  of    the  dust    and 
to  hearten    him    by  the    early    instructions,  as  well    as    to    guide 
him  to  the  precise  methods  and  means  of  reform  and  of   a  good 
life  for    the    future.      As    to  the    sacrament  of   penance,  the    say- 
ing of   St.   Alphonsus    is    a    maxim  with    us    all  :    "Be  a  lion  in 
the  pulpit,  but  a  lamb  in  the  confessional.'' 

The  reader  must  indulge  us  in  thus  dwelling  so  long  on  the 
Catholic  missions,  for  we  are  inclined  to  say  many  words  of 
praise  of  so  lovely  a  life,  in  which  the  same  men  sow  and  reap 
a  great  harvest  in  the  same  week,  expend  their  vitality  in 
preaching    the  word  and    administering  the  sacraments  and  com- 


A  Redcmptorist  Missionary.  241 


forting  sinners  who  are  wholly  broken  down  with  the  truest  con- 
trition. 

In  185 1  the  American  Redemptorists  had  before  them  a  mis- 
sionary field  almost  untouched.  Public  retreats  had  been  given 
from  time  to  time  in  the  United  States  by  Jesuits  and  others, 
but  the  mission  opened  at  St.  Joseph's  Church,  New  York  City, 
on  Passion  Sunday,  185 1,  was  the  first  mission  of  a  regular 
series  carried  on  systematically  by  a  body  of  men  especially  de- 
voted to  the  vocation.  The  merit  of  inaugurating  them  is  chiefly 
due  to  Father  Bernard,  who  had  no  hesitation  in  getting  to 
work  with  his  three  American  fathers;  though  Father  Joseph 
Miiller,  rector  of  the  Third  Street  convent,  and  Rev.  Joseph 
McCarron,  the  rector  of  St.  Joseph's  Church,  had  something 
to  do  in  arranging  the  details  and  in  facilitating  the  work. 
Several  Redemptorists  from  Third  Street  helped  in  the  confes- 
sionals.* 

We  have  space  for  only  the  following  extracts  from  the  brief 
record  of  the  missions,  preserved  by  the  fathers.  They  illustrate 
how  earnestly  Father  Hecker  worked.  In  the  record  of  the 
second  mission  at  Loretto,  Pa.,  we  find  this: 

The  instructions  and  Rosary  were  generally  given  by  Father 
Hecker,  who  received  from  the  people  the  name  of  "  Father 
Mary."  .  .  .  During  the  first  few  days  the  people  did  not  attend 
well ;  but  after  Father  Hecker  had  gone  through  the  village  and 
among  a  clique  of  young  men  who  were  indifferent  and  dis- 
affected to  the  clergy,  and  the  evil  geniuses  of  the  place,  and 
after  some  fervent  exhortations  had  been  made  to  the  people, 
they  flocked  to  the  mission    and  crowded  the  church. 

At  Johnstown,  Pa.  :  After  two  or  three  days  a  man  happened 
to  die  on  the  railroad,  and  all  the  men  at  that  station,  per- 
haps a  hundred  in  number,  accompanied  the  corpse  to  the 
church.  Father  Hecker  seized  the  opportunity  to  address  them 
and  to  give  them  a  mission  ferveroso.  And  the  next  day  he 
went  on  horseback,  accompanied  by  the  pastor,  Father  Mullen 
(since  Bishop  of  Erie),  to  several  stations  and  addressed  the 
men,  inviting    them  to  attend    the    mission.     The  result  was  suc- 

*  Observers  of  coincidences  will  be  interested  to  notice  the  arrival  of  the  missionaries  in 
America  on  St.  Joseph's  day,  under  the  Provincial  Bernard  Joseph  Hafkenscheid,  to  open 
their  first  mission  at  St.  Joseph's  Church,  the  pastor  being  Joseph  McCarron,  the  mission 
having  been  negotiated  by  Joseph  Miiller,  the  rector  of  the  Third  Street  convent.  Father 
Hecker  had  a  special  devotion  for  St.  Joseph. 


242  The  Life  of  FatJier  Hecker. 

cessful.  Procession  after  procession  marched  in,  filling  the  church, 
and  numbers  of  them  stayed  all  day,  lying  on  the  grass  about  the 
church.  .  .  .  Father  Hecker  called  out  a  noted  politician,  who 
had  not  been  to  the  sacraments  for  many  years  until  the  mis- 
sion, to  receive  the  scapular  as  an  example,  and  the  good  man 
did  not  fail  to  receive  a  plentiful  supply  of  holy  water  from 
the  vigorous  arm  of  the  said  father. 

The  following  entry  in  the  record  under  date  of  February, 
1852,  made  after  a  mission  given  in  St.  Peter's  Church,  Troy, 
N.  Y.,  will  be  of  interest  to  missionaries,  and  to  others  who 
are  observant  of  their  methods :  "  At  Youngstown,  Pa.,  (the 
preceding  December)  the  experiment  of  preaching  from  a  plat- 
form had  been  successfully  tried  and  was  repeated  here,  as  at 
other  missions  since  (Youngstown).  On  the  platform  a  large 
black  cross,  some  ten  feet  or  more  in  height,  was  erected,  from 
the  arms  of  which  a  white  muslin  cloth  was  suspended.  This 
use  of  cross  and  platform  has  thus  been  regularly  introduced 
into  the  missions."  Previously  it  had  been  the  custom  to  erect 
a  large  cross  out  of  doors  in  front  of  the  church  as  one  of  the 
closing  ceremonies    of  the    mission. 

Fathers  Hecker,  Hewit,  and  Walworth,  led  by  Father  Bernard, 
made  a  unique  band  of  missionaries,  one,  we  think,  hardly 
equalled  since  they  yielded  their  place  to  others.  Each  was  a 
man  of  marked  individuality,  whose  distinct  personality  was  by 
no  means  obscured  by  the  strict  conformity  to  rule  evident  in 
their  behavior.  Fathers  Hewit  and  Walworth  were  orators,  dif- 
fering much  from  each  other,  both  full  of  power.  Father  Hecker 
was  a  born  persuader  of  men,  and  could  teach  as  a  gift  of  nature, 
earnest  in  mind  and  manner.  His  two  companions  saw  him  learn 
by  hard  work  how  so  to  modulate  his  voice  and  to  manage  it 
and  his  manner  as  to  exactly  suit  himself  to  his  duties  as  the 
instructor  of  the  band,  while  they  delivered  finished  discourses 
at  the  night  services,  many  of  them  masterpieces  of  mission  ora- 
tory. Their  very  poise  and  glance  on  the  platform  stilled  the 
church,  and  their  noble  rhetoric  clothed  appeals  to  the  intel- 
ligence and  to  the  heart  in  most  attractive  garb.  In  Father 
Hecker  you  saw  a  man  who  wanted  to  persuade  you  because 
he  was  right  and  knew  it,  and  because  he  was  deeply  inter- 
ested in  your  welfare.  He  sought  no  display,  and  yet  held  you 
fast  to  him  by  eye  and  ear.      He  had  no  tricks  to  catch  applause, 


A   Rcdcmptorist  Missionary.  243 


for  he  had  no  vanity.  He  said  what  he  liked,  for  he  was  totally 
devoid  of  diffidence  or  awkwardness,  and  his  best  aid  was  his 
invariable  equipment  of  an  earnest  purpose.  "  But  I  don't  be- 
lieve," said  Father  Walworth  to  the  writer,  "that  Demosthenes 
ever  worked  through  greater  difficulties  than  Father  Hccker  in 
making  himself  a  good  public  speaker." 

Father  Bernard  managed  the  missions  for  the  first  year,  and 
dealt  with  the  pastors  as  superior  of  the  band,  meanwhile 
devouring  more  than  his  share  of  the  work  in  the  confessional. 
The  least  experience  shows  that  there  can  be  little  of  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  barracks  order  on  the  missions,  and  all  the  fathers 
must  of  necessity  consult  together,  the  superior  leading  in  the 
observance  of  such  community  devotional  customs  as  are  pos- 
sible, and  setting  a  good  example  in  stooping  to  the  burdens 
which  all  must  bear.  As  to  Father  Bernard,  the  Americans 
could  only  admire  and  love  him.  In  his  own  tongue  a  renown- 
ed orator,  he  yet  never  preached  in  English  while  with  these 
three  men  unless  on  rare  occasions,  such  as  when  one  of  them 
was  prevented  by  sickness.  From  him  they  received  the  man- 
ner of  giving  missions  handed  down  from  St.  Alphonsus,  and 
they  have  transmitted  the  tradition  to  their  spiritual  children  in 
all  its  integrity. 

Nearly  two  years  passed  of  hard  missionary  campaigning  under 
Father  Bernard,  when  he  was  recalled  to  Europe,  and  Father  Alex- 
ander Cvitcovicz  took  his  place.  His  last  name  was  seldom  used, 
for  the  same  evident  reason  as  in  his  predecessor's  case.  Father 
Alexander  was  a  Magyar,  past  the  meridian  of  life,  long  accus- 
tomed to  missions  in  Europe,  learned,  devout,  kindly,  and  of  a 
zeal  which  seemed  to  aspire  at  utter  self-annihilation  in  the  ser- 
vice of  sinners.  "  It  was  not  unusual  for  Father  Alexander," 
says  Father  Hewit  in  his  memoir  of  Father  Baker,  "  to  sit  in  his 
confessional  for  ten  days  in  succession  for  fifteen  or  sixteen  hours 
each  day.  He  instructed  the  little  children  who  were  preparing 
for  the  sacraments,  but  never  preached  any  of  the  great  sermons. 
In  his  government  of  the  fathers  who  were  under  him  he  was 
gentleness,  consideration,  and  indulgence  itself.  In  his  own  life 
and  example  he  presented  a  pattern  of  the  most  perfect  religious 
virtue,  in  its  most  attractive  form,  without  constraint,  austerity, 
or  moroseness,  and  yet  without  relaxation  from  the  most  ascetic 
principles.  He  was  a  most  thoroughly  accomplished  and  learned 
man  in  many  branches  of    secular  and  sacred  science   and  in  the 


244  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 


fine  arts ;  and  in  the  German  language,  which  was  as  familiar  to 
him  as  his  native  language,  he  was  among  the  best  preachers  of 
his  order.  .  .  .  We  went  through  several  long  and  hard  mission- 
ary campaigns  under  his  direction,  until  at  last  we  left  him,  in 
the  year  1854,  in  the  convent  at  New  Orleans,  worn  out  with 
labor,  to  exchange  his  arduous  missionary  work  for  the  lighter 
duties  of  the  parish." 

Father  Walworth  now  became  superior,  and  the  missions  went 
on  in  the  same  spirit  and  with  the  same  success  as  before.  In 
the  record  of  the  one  given  at  the  church  of  Our  Lady,  Star  of 
the  Sea,  Brooklyn,  we  find  the  following  entry:  "Missionaries, 
Fathers  Walworth,  Hecker,  Hewit,  and  George  Deshon  (late  lieu- 
tenant Ordnance,  U.  S.  A.,  a  convert  from  the  Episcopal  Church. 
This  was  his  first  mission)."  Father  Deshon  had  been  ordained 
not  long  before,  and  soon  began  to  share  the  instructions  with 
Father  Hecker.  This  was  in  February,  1856,  and  in  November 
of  the  same  year,  at  St.  Patrick's  Mission,  Washington,  D.  C,  they 
were  joined  by  Father  Francis  A.  Baker,  ordained  in  the  preced- 
ing September,  a  distinguished  convert  from  the  Episcopal  minis- 
try of  the  city  of  Baltimore.  Much  we  would  say  of  him,  his 
eloquence  and  his  very  amiable  traits  of  character,  but  all  this 
and  more  is  well  said  by  Father  Hewit,  in  his  memoir  of  Father 
Baker,  published  after  the  latter's  death  in  1865  (Catholic  Publi- 
cation Society  Co.)  This  increase  of  members  allowed  a  division 
of  the  band  for  smaller- sized  missions. 

In  our  judgment  those  men  were  a  band  of  missionaries  the 
like  of  whom  have  not  served  the  great  cause  among  the  Eng- 
lish-speaking races  these  recent  generations.  Fathers  Walworth, 
Hewit,  and  Deshon  have  survived  their  companions  of  those  early 
days,  and  may  they  long  remain  with  us,  calm  and  beautiful  and 
devout  old  veterans  of  the  divine  warfare  of  peace  ! 

Father  Hecker  gave  several  retreats  to  religious  communities 
of  men  and  of  women  during  the  six  or  seven  years  we  are 
considering,  devoting  for  the  purpose  portions  of  the  summer 
months  usually  unoccupied  by  missions.  Copies  of  notes  of  his 
conferences,  taken  down  by  some  of  his  hearers,  are  in  our  pos- 
session and  may  aid  us  further  on  in  giving  the  reader  a  view 
of  his  spiritual  doctrine. 

The  following  extract  from  the  Roman  statement  summarizes 
what  we  have  been  telling  in  this  chapter,  and  introduces  the 
reader  to  Father  Hecker's  first  missionary  activity  as  a  writer: 


A   Rcdanptorist  Missionary.  245 


"  My  superiors  sent  me    back    to    the    United    States,    and    on 
my  return  being  asked  by  my  immediate   superior    in    what   way 
he  could  best  employ  me,  my  reply  was,  in   taking   care    of   the 
sick,    the    poor,    and    the    prisoners.       The    stupidity     which    still 
reigned  over  my  intellectual  faculties,  and  the  helplessness  of  my 
will,  and  my  sympathy  with  those  classes  led  me  to  choose  such 
a  sphere  of  action  as  most  suitable  to  my    then  condition.      And 
although  the  conversion  of  the  non-Catholics  of  my  fellow-coun- 
trymen was  ever   before  my  mind,  yet  God  left  me  in  ignorance 
how  this  was  to  be  accomplished.       Such    strong    and    deep    im- 
pulses, and  so  vast  in  their  reach,   took  possession  of  my  soul  on 
my  return  to  the  United    States    in  regard    to  the  conversion  of 
the   American  people,  that  on    manifesting   my  interior  to  one  of 
the  most  spiritually  enlightened   and    experienced    fathers    of    the 
congregation  on  the  subject  to  obtain  his  direction,   he    bade    me 
not  to  resist   these    interior    movements,    they    came    from    God  ; 
and  that  God  would  yet  employ  me    in    accordance    with    them. 
Such  were  his  words.     After  a  few  weeks    in    the    United   States 
the  work  of  the  missions  began.       My    principal    duties    on    these 
were  to  give  public  instructions  and    hear  confessions,   and    up  to 
this  time  (1858)  these  missionary  labors  have  occupied  me  almost 
exclusively. 

"The  blessings  of  God  upon  our  missions  were  most  evident 
and  most  abundant  and  my  share  in  them  most  consoling,  as 
usually  the  most  abandoned  sinners  fell  to  my  lot.  But  holy  and 
important  as  the  exercises  of  the  missions  among  Catholics  are, 
still  this  work  did  not  correspond  to  my  interior  attrait,  and 
though  exhausted  and  frequently  made  ill  from  excessive  fatigue 
in  these  duties,  yet  my  ardent  and  constant  desire  to  do  some- 
thing for  my  non- Catholic  countrymen  led  me  to  take  up  my 
pen.  That  took  place  as  follows:  One  day  alone  in  my  cell 
the  thought  suddenly  struck  me  how  great  were  my  privileges 
and  my  joy  since  my  becoming  a  Catholic,  and  how  great  were' 
my  troubles  and  agony  of  soul  before  this  event !  Alas !  how 
many  of  my  former  friends  and  acquaintances,  how  many  of  the 
great  body  of  the  American  people  were  in  the  same  most  pain- 
ful position.  Cannot  something  be  done  to  lead  them  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth  ?  Perhaps  if  the  way  that  divine  Provi- 
dence had  led  me  to  the  church  was  shown  to  them  many  of 
them  might  in  this  way  be  led  also  to  see  the  truth.  This 
thought,  and  with  it  the  hope  of  inducing    young    men    to   enter 


246  The  Life  of  Father  Heckcr. 


into  religious  orders,  produced  in  a  few  months  from  my  pen  a 
book  entitled  Questions  of  the  Soul.  The  main  features  of  this 
book  are  the  proofs  that  the  Sacraments  of  the  Catholic  Church 
satisfy  fully  all  the  wants  of  the  heart.     .     .     . 

"  But  the  head  was  left  to  be  yet  converted  ;  this  thought  led  me 
to  write  a  second  book,  called  Aspirations  of  Nature;  and  which 
has  for  its  aim  to  show  that  the  truths  of  the  Catholic  faith  an- 
swer completely  to  the  demands  of  reason.  My  purpose  in  these 
two  books  was  to  explain  the  Catholic  religion  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  reach  and  attract  the  minds  of  the  non-Catholics  of  the 
American  people.  These  books  were  regarded  in  my  own  secret 
thoughts  as  the  test  whether  God  had  really  given  to  me  the  grace 
and  vocation  to  labor  in  a  special  manner  for  the  conversion  of 
these  people.  The  first  book,  with  God's  grace,  has  been  the 
means  of  many  and  signal  conversions  in  the  United  States  and 
England,  and  in  a  short  period  passed  through  three  editions. 
The  second  has    been  published  since  my  arrival  in   Rome.    .   .   . 

"  On  an  occasion  of  a  public  conference  (discourse)  given  by 
me  before  an  audience,  a  great  part  of  which  was  not  Catholic,  the 
matter  and  manner  of  which  was  taken  from  my  second  book, 
my  fellow-missionaries  were  present ;  and  they  as  well  as  myself 
regarded  this  as  a  test  whether  my  views  and  sentiments  were 
adapted  to  reach  and  convince  the  understanding  and  hearts  of 
this  class  of  people,  or  were  the  mere  illusions  of  fancy.  Hith- 
erto my  fellow  missionaries  had  shown  but  little  sympathy  with 
my  thoughts  on  these  points,  but  at  the  close  of  the  conference 
they  were  of  one  mind  that  my  vocation  was  evidently  to  work 
in  the  direction  of  the  conversion  of  the  non-Catholics,  and  they 
spoke  of  such  a  work  with  conviction  and    enthusiasm." 

This  last  event  occurred  in  St.  Patrick's  Church,  Norfolk, 
Va.,  in  April,  1856,  and  is  thus  mentioned  by  Father  Hewit  in 
the  record  of  the  mission :  "  Father  Hecker  closed  with  an  ex- 
tremely eloquent  and  popular  lecture  on  '  Popular  Objections 
to  Catholicity.'  " 

The  Questions  of  the  Soul  was  well  named,  for  it  under- 
takes to  show  how  the  cravings  of  man  for  divine  union 
may  be  satisfied.  It  does  this  by  discussing  the  problem  of 
human  destiny,  affirming  the  need  of  God  for  the  soul's  light 
and  for  its  virtue,  proving  this  by  arguments  drawn  from  the 
instincts,   faculties,  and  achievements  of  man.     The  sense  of  want 


A  Redemptorist  Missionary.  247 


in  man  is  the    universal    argument    for    his    need    of    more    than 
human  fruition,   and  in  the  moral  order  is  the   irrefragable    proof 
of  both  his    own    dignity  and     his     incapacity    to    make     himself 
worthy  of  it.      Father    Hecker    urged    in    this    book    that  man  is 
born  to  be  more  than  equal  to  himself — an  evident  proof  of   the 
need    of   a  superhuman   or    supernatural    religion.      Eleven    chap- 
ters,  making    one-third    of    the  volume,   are    devoted    to    showing 
this,   and  include  the  author's  own  itinerarium  from  his  first  con- 
sciousness of    the    supreme    question  of    the    soul     until    its    final 
answer  in  the  Catholic  Church,  embracing  short    accounts  of  the 
Brook  Farm    and    Fruitlands    communities,  and  mention  of  other 
such  abortive    attempts  at  solution.      Three    chapters    then    affirm 
and  briefly  develop  the  claim  of  Christ    to    be    the    entire    fulfil- 
ment of  the  soul's  need  for    God,  with    the    Catholic    Church    as 
his  chosen  means    and    instrument.     These    are    entitled    respec- 
tively, "  The    Model    Man,"  "  The  Model  Life,"  and  "  The    Idea 
of    the    Church."     Three    more    chapters    discuss     Protestantism, 
stating  its  commonest    doctrines    and    citing    its    most    competent 
witnesses  in  proof  of  its  total  and    often    admitted    inadequacy  to 
lead     man    to    his    destiny.     Bringing    the    reader    back    to    the 
Church,  the  fourteen  last  chapters  fully  develop  her  claims,   deal- 
ing mostly  with  known  facts    and    public    institutions,   and    citing 
largely  the  testimony  of  non- Catholic  writers. 

It  is  something  like  the  inductive  method  to  infer  the  ex- 
istence of  a  food  from  that  of  an  admitted  appetite,  as  also  to 
learn  the  kind  of  food  from  the  nature  of  the  organs  provided 
by  nature  for  its  reception  and  digestion.  So  the  longings  of 
man's  moral  nature,  Father  Hecker  felt,  when  fairly  under- 
stood, must  lead  to  the  knowledge  of  what  he  wants  for  their 
satisfaction — the  Infinite  Good — and  that  by  a  process  of  reason- 
ing something  equivalent  to  the  scientific.  Such  is  the  state- 
ment of  his  case,  embracing  with  its  argument  the  introductory 
chapters.  The  inquiry  then  extends  to  the  claimants  in  the 
religious  world,  not  simply  as  to  which  is  biblically  authentic 
or  historically  so,  but  rather  as  to  which  religion  claims  to 
satisfy  the  entire  human  want  of  God  and  makes  the  claim 
good  as  an  actual  fact.  It  is  wonderful  how  this  line  of  argu- 
ment simplifies  controversy,  and  no  less  wonderful  to  find  how 
easily  the  victory  is  won  by  the  Catholic  claim.  The  reader 
will  also  notice  how  consistent  all  this  is  with  Father  Hecker's 
own  experience  from  the  beginning. 


248  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

The  literary  faults  of  the  book  are  not  a  few  ;  for  if  the 
argument  is  compact,  its  details  seem  to  have  been  hastily- 
snatched  up  and  put  together,  or  perhaps  the  occupations  of 
the  missions  prevented  revision  and  consultation.  There  is  a 
large  surplusage  of  quotations  from  poets,  many  of  them 
obscure,  and  worthy  of  praise  rather  as  didactic  writers  than 
as  poets  ;  yet  every  word  quoted  bears  on  the  point  under 
discussion.  To  one  who  has  labored  in  preparing  sermons,  each 
chapter  looks  like  the  cullings  of  the  preacher's  commonplace 
book  set  in  order  for  memorizing  ;  and  very  many  sentences 
are  rhetorically  faulty.  But,  in  spite  of  all  these  defects,  the 
book  is  a  powerful  one,  and  nothing  is  found  to  hurt  clearness 
or  strength  of  expression.  What  we  have  criticised  are  only 
bits  of  bark  left  clinging  to  the  close-jointed  but  rough-hewn 
frame- work. 

The  Questions  of  the  Soul  was  got  out  by  the  Appletons, 
and  was  at  the  time  of  its  publication  a  great  success,  and 
still  remains  so.  The  reason  is  because  the  author  takes 
nothing  for  granted,  propounds  difficulties  common  to  all  non- 
Catholics,  sceptics  as  well  as  professing  Protestants,  and  offers 
solutions  verifiable  by  inspection  of  every- day  Catholicity  and 
by  evidences  right  at  hand.  Catholicity  is  the  true  religion, 
because  it  alone  unites  men  to  God  in  the  fulness  of  union, 
supernatural  and  integral  in  inner  and  outer  life — a  union  de- 
manded by  the  most  resistless  cravings  of  human  nature:  such 
is  the  thesis.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  prior  to  this 
book  there  was  nothing  like  its  argument  current  in  English 
literature  ;  a  short  and  extremely  instructive  account  by 
Frederick  Lucas  of  his  conversion  from  Quakerism  is  the  only 
exception  known  to  us,  and  that  but  partially  resembles  it,  is 
quite  brief,  and  has   long  since  gone  out  of  print. 

The  Aspirations  of  Nature  deals  with  intellectual  difficulties 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  Questions  of  the  Soul  does  with  the 
moral  ones.  The  greatest  possible  emphasis  is  laid  upon  the 
two-fold  truth  that  man's  intellectual  nature  is  infallible  in  its 
rightful  domain,  and  that  that  domain  is  too  narrow  for  its  own 
activity.  The  validity  of  human  reason  as  far  as  it  goes,  and  its 
failure  to  go  far  enough  for  man's  intellectual  needs,  are  the 
two  theses  of  the  book.  They  are  well  and  thoroughly  proved ; 
and  no  one  can  deny  the  urgent  need  of  discussing  them  :  the 
dignity  of  human  nature  and    the    necessity    of    revelation.     Like 


A   Rcdcmptorist  Missionary.  249 


Father  Hecker's  first  book,  the  Aspirations  of  Nature  is  good 
for  all  non-Catholics,  because  in  proving  the  dignity  of  man's 
reason  Protestants  are  brought  face  to  face  with  their  funda- 
mental error  of  total  depravity ;  enough  for  their  case  surely. 
If  they  take  refuge  in  the  mitigations  of  modern  Protestant  be- 
liefs, they  nearly  always  go  to  the  extreme  of  asserting  the 
entire  sufficiency  of  the  human  intellect,  and  are  here  met  by 
the   argument  for  the  necessity  of  revelation. 

An  extremely  valuable  collection  of  the  confessions  of  heathen 
and  infidel  philosophers  as  to  the  insufficiency  of  reason  is  found 
in  this  book,  as  well  as  a  full  set  of  quotations  from  Protestant 
representative  authorities  on  the  subject  of  total  depravity.  Over 
against  these  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  reason  and  revelation  is 
brought  out  clearly.  The  study  of  the  book  would  be  a  valu- 
able preparation  for  the  exposition  of  the  claims  of  the  Catholic 
Church  to  be  the  religion  of  humanity,  natural  and  regenerate — 
the   intellectual  religion. 

As  might  be  expected  from  one  who  had  such  an  aversion 
for  Calvinism,  the  view  of  human  nature  taken  by  the  author  is 
what  some  would  call  optimistic,  and  the  tone  with  regard  to 
the  religious  honesty  of  non -Catholic  Americans  extremely  hope- 
ful. Perhaps  herein  was  Dr.  Brownson's  reason  for  an  adverse, 
or  almost  adverse,  criticism  on  the  book  in  his  Review.  He  had 
given  the  Questions  of  the  Soul  a  thoroughly  flattering  recep- 
tion, and  now  says  many  things  in  praise  of  the  Aspirations 
of  Nature,  praising  especially  the  chapter  on  individuality. 
But  yet  he  dreads  that  the  book  will  be  misunderstood  ; 
he  has  no  such  lively  hopes  as  the  author  ;  he  trusts  he  is  not 
running  along  with  the  eccentricities  of  theologians  rather  than 
with  their  common  teaching;  fears  that  he  takes  the  possible 
powers  of  nature  and  such  as  are  rarely  seen  in  actual  life  as 
the  common  rule  ;  dreads,  again,  that  Transcendentalists  will  be 
encouraged  by  it;  and  more  to  the  same  effect.  But  Father 
Hecker,  before  leaving  for  Europe  in  1857,  had  submitted  the 
manuscript  to  Archbishop  Kenrick  and  received  his  approval ; 
nor  did  Brownson's  unfavorable  notice  ruffle  the  ancient  friend- 
ship between  them. 

The  Aspirations  of  Nature  was  put  through  the  press  by 
George  Ripley,  at  that  time  literary  editor  of  the  New  York 
Tribune,  Father  Hecker  having  gone  to  Rome  on  the  mission 
which  ended  in  the    establishment    of   his  new    community.     Mr. 


250 


The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


McMaster  had  assisted  him  similarly  with  the  Questions  of  the 
Soul.  The  second  book  sold  well,  as  the  first  had  done,  and 
has  had  several  editions.  It  is  not  so  hot  and  eager  in  spirit 
as  the  Questions  of  the  Soul,  but  it  presses  its  arguments 
earnestly  enough  on  the  reader's  attention.  It  is  free  from  the 
literary  faults  named  in  connection  with  its  predecessor,  reads 
smoothly,  and  has  very  many  powerful  passages  and  some  elo- 
quent ones. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

SEPARATION    FROM    THE    REDEMPTORISTS. 

1AHE  events  which  led  to  the  separation  of  the  band  of  Ameri- 
can missionaries  from  the  Redemptorist  community  took 
place  in  the  spring  and  summer  of  1857.  A  misunderstanding 
arose  about  the  founding  of  a  new  house  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  or 
in  New  York  City,  which  should  be  the  headquarters  for  the 
English-speaking  Fathers  and  become  the  centre  of  attraction  for 
American  subjects,  and  in  which  English  should  be  the  lan- 
guage in  common  use.  Application  had  been  made  by  Bishop 
Bayley,  and  afterwards  by  Archbishop  Hughes,  for  such  a 
foundation,  but  superiors,  both  in  the  United  States  and  in  Rome 
— the  latter  dependent  on  letter- writing  for  understanding  the 
difficulties  which  arose — became  suspicious  of  the  aims  of  the 
American  Fathers  and  of  the  spirit  which  actuated  them.  To 
establish  their  loyalty  and  to  explain  the  necessity  for  the  new 
foundation,  the  missionary  Fathers  believed  that  one  of  their 
number  should  go  to  Rome  and  lay  the  matter  in  person  be- 
fore the  General  or  Rector  Major  of  the  order.  The  choice  fell 
on  Father  Hecker,  who  sailed  on  August  5,  1857,  arrived  in 
Rome  the  26th,  and  was  expelled  from  the  Congregation  of  the 
Most  Holy  Redeemer  on  Sunday,  the  29th  of  the  same  month, 
the  General  deeming  his  coming  to  Rome  to  be  a  violation  of 
the  vows  of  obedience  and  poverty. 

The  grounds  of  his  expulsion  were  then  examined  by  the 
Propaganda,  from  which  the  case  passed  to  the  Holy  Father, 
who  sought  the  decision  of  the  Congregation  of  Bishops  and 
Regulars.  Pius  IX.  gave  his  judgment  as  a  result  of  the  examin- 
ation made  by  the  last-named  Congregation  ;  but  he  had  made 
a  personal  study  of  all  the  evidence,  and  had  given  private 
audiences  to  both  the  General  and  Father  Hecker.  It  was  de- 
cided that  all  the  American  Fathers  associated  in  the  missionary 
band  should  be  dispensed  from  their  vows  as  Redemptorists, 
including  Father  Hecker,  who  was  looked  upon  and  treated  by 
the  decree  as  if  he  were  still  as  much  a  member  of  the  Congre- 
gation as  the  others,  his  expulsion  being  ignored.  This  con- 
clusion was  arrived  at  only  after  seven  months  of  deliberation, 
and  was  dated  the  6th  of  March,    1858.     The  decree,  which  will 

be  given  entire  in  this  chapter,  contemplates  the  continued  activ- 

251 


252  The  Life  of  FatJier  Hccker. 

ity  of  the  Fathers  as  missionaries,  subject  to  the  authority  of 
the  American  bishops ;  their  formation  into  a  separate  society- 
was  taken  for  granted.  Such  is  a  brief  statement  of  the  entire 
case.  If  the  reader  will  allow  it  to  stand  as  a  summary,  what 
follows  will  serve  to  fill  in  the  outline  and  complete  a  more 
detailed  view. 

And  at  the  outset  let  it  be  fully  understood  that  none  of 
the  Fathers  desired  separation  from  the  order  or  had  the 
faintest  notion  of  its  possibility  as  the  outcome  of  the  mis- 
understanding. One  of  the  first  letters  of  Father  Hecker  from 
Rome  utters  the  passionate  cry,  "  They  have  driven  me  out  of 
the  home  of  my  heart  and  love."  We  have  repeatedly  heard 
him  affirm  that  he  never  had  so  much  as  a  temptation  against 
his  vows  as  a  Redemptorist.  But  in  saying  this  we  do  not 
mean  to  lay  blame  on  the  Redemptorist  superiors.  In  all  that 
we  have  to  say  on  this  subject  we  must  be  understood  as  re- 
cognizing their  purity  of  intention.  Their  motives  were  love  of 
discipline  and  obedience,  which  they  considered  seriously  en- 
dangered. They  were  persuaded  that  their  action,  though  se- 
vere, was  necessary  for  the  good  of  the  entire  order.  And  this 
shows  that  the  difficulty  was  a  misunderstanding,  for  there  is 
conclusive  evidence  of  the  loyalty  of  the  American  Fathers — of 
Father  Hecker  no  less  than  the  others ;  as  also  of  their  fair 
fame  as  Redemptorists  with  both  the  superiors  and  brethren  of 
the  community  up  to  the  date  of  their  disagreement.  When 
Father  Hecker  left  for  Rome  the  Provincial  gave  him  his  writ- 
ten word  that,  although  he  disapproved  of  his  journey,  he  bore 
witness  to  him  as  a  good  Redemptorist,  full  of  zeal  for  souls ; 
and  he  added  that  up  to  that  time  his  superiors  had  been  en- 
tirely satisfied  with  him ;  and  to  the  paper  containing  this 
testimony  the  Provincial  placed  the  official  seal  of  the  order. 
On  the  other  side,  a  repeated  and  careful  examination  of  Father 
Hecker's  letters  and  memoranda  reveals  no  accusation  by  him 
of  moral  fault  against  his  Redemptorist  superiors,  but  on  the 
contrary  many  words  of  favorable  explanation  of  their  conduct. 
When  the  Rector  Major,  in  the  midst  of  his  council,  began,  to 
Father  Hecker's  utter  amazement,  to  read  the  sentence  of  ex- 
pulsion, he  fell  on  his  knees  and  received  the  blow  with  bowed 
head  as  a  visitation  of  God.  And  when,  again,  after  prostrating 
himself  before  the  Blessed  Sacrament  and  resigning  himself  to 
the  Divine  Will,  he  returned  to  the  council  and  begged  the  Gen- 


Separation  from  the  Rcdcmptorists.  253 

eral  on  his  knees  for  a  further  consideration  of  his  case,  and 
was  refused,  he  reports  that  the  General  affirmed  that  his  sense 
of  duty  would  not  allow  him  to  act  otherwise  than  he  had  done, 
and  that  he  by  no  means  meant  to  condemn  Father  Hecker  in 
the  court  of  conscience,  but  only  to  exercise  jurisdiction  over 
his  external  conduct. 

In  truth  the  trouble  arose  mainly  from  the  very  great  differ- 
ence between  the  character  of  the  American  Fathers  and  that  of 
their  superiors  in  the  order.  It  is  nothing  new  or  strange,  to 
borrow  Father  Hewit's  thoughts  as  expressed  in  his  memoir  of 
Father  Baker,  that  men  whose  characters  are  cast  in  a  different 
mould  should  have  different  views,  and  should,  with  the  most  con- 
scientious intentions,  be  unable  to  coincide  in  judgment  or  act  in 
concert : 

"  There  is  room  in  the  Catholic  Church  for  every  kind  of  re- 
ligious organization,  suiting  all  the  varieties  of  mind  and  char- 
acter and  circumstance.  If  collisions  and  misunderstandings  often 
come  between  those  who  have  the  same  great  end  in  view,  this 
is  the  result  of  human  infirmity,  and  only  shows  how  imperfect 
and    partial    are  human  wisdom  and  human  virtue." 

What  Father  Hewit  adds  of  Father  Baker's  dispositions  ap- 
plies as  well  to  all  the  Fathers.  In  ceasing  to  be  Redemptorists, 
they  did  not  swerve  from  their  original  purpose  in  becoming  reli- 
gious. None  of  them  had  grown  discontented  with  his  state  or  with 
his  superiors.  They  were  all  in  the  full  fervor  of  the  devotional 
spirit  of  the  community,  and  as  missionaries  were  generously  wear- 
ing out  their  lives  in  the  toil  and  hardship  of  its  peculiar  voca- 
tion. But  both  parties  became  the  instruments  of  a  special 
providence,  which  made  use  of  the  wide  diversities  of  tempera- 
ment existing  among  men,  and  set  apart  Father  Hecker  and 
his  companions,  after  a  season  of  severe  trial,  for  a  new  aposto- 
late.  They  did  not  choose  it  for  themselves.  Father  Hecker  had 
aspirations,  as  we  know,  but  he  did  not  dream  of  realizing  them 
through  any  separation  whatever.  But  Providence  led  the  Holy 
See  to  change  what  had  been  a  violent  wrench  into  a  peaceful 
division,  exercising,  in  so  doing,  a  divine  authority  accepted  with 
equal  obedience  by  all  concerned. 

What  Father  Hewit  further  says  of  Father  Baker  applies  ex- 
actly to  Father  Hecker : 

"For  the  Congregation   in  which  he  was    trained    to  the  reli- 


254  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

gious  and  ecclesiastical  state  he  always  retained  a  sincere  esteem 
and  affection.  He  did  not  ask  the  Pope  for  a  dispensation  from 
his  vows  in  order  to  be  relieved  from  a  burdensome  obligation, 
but  only  on  the  condition  that  it  seemed  best  to  him  to  terminate 
the  difficulty  which  had  arisen  that  way.  When  the  dispensation 
was  granted  he  did  not  change  his  life  for  a  more  easy  one.  .  . 
Let  no  one,  therefore,  who  is  disposed  to  yield  to  temptations 
against  his  vocation,  and  to  abandon  the  religious  state  from 
weariness,  tepidity,  or  any  unworthy  motive,  think  to  find  any 
encouragement  in  his  example;  for  his  austere,  self-denying,  and 
arduous  life  will  give  him  only  rebuke,  and  not  encouragement." 

After  the  expulsion  the  General  begged  Father  Hecker  to 
make  the  convent  his  home  till  he  was  suited  elsewhere,  and 
Father  Hecker,  having  thanked  him  for  his  kindness  and 
stayed  there  that  night,  took  lodgings  the  following  day  in  a  quiet 
street  near  the  Propaganda.  During  the  seven  months  of  his  stay 
in  Rome  he  frequently  visited  the  General  and  his  consultors, 
sometimes  on  business  but  at  other  times  from  courtesy  and 
good  feeling. 

He  at  once  presented  the  testimonials  intended  for  the  Gen- 
eral to  Cardinal  Barnabo,  Prefect  of  the  Propaganda,  who  ex- 
amined them  in  company  with  Archbishop  Bedini,  the  Secretary 
of  that  Congregation.  As  may  be  imagined,  the  attitude  of  these 
prelates  was  at  first  one  of  extreme  reserve.  But  every  case  gets 
a  hearing  in  Rome,  and  that  of  this  expelled  religious,  and  there- 
fore suspended  priest,  could  be  no  exception.  A  glance  at  the 
credentials,  a  short  conversation  with  their  bearer,  a  closer  exam- 
ination of  the  man  and  of  his  claim,  produced  a  favorable  impres- 
sion and  led  to  a  determination  to  sift  the  matter  thoroughly. 
The  principal  letters  were  from  Archbishop  Hughes  and  Bishop 
Bayley.  The  former  spoke  thus  of  Father  Hecker :  "  I  have 
great  pleasure  in  recommending  him  as  a  laborious,  edifying, 
zealous,  and  truly  apostolic  priest." 

Some  of  the  letters  were  from  prominent  laymen  of  the  City 
of  New  York,  including  one  from  Mr.  McMaster,  another  from 
Dr.  Brownson,  and  another  from  Dr.  Ives  ;  in  addition  he  had 
the  words  of  praise  of  the  Provincial  in  America  already  referred 
to.  Finally  he  showed  letters  from  each  of  the  American  Fathers, 
one  of  whom,  Father  Hewit,  was  a  member  of  the  Provincial 
Council,  all  joining  themselves  to  Father  Hecker  as  sharing  the 
responsibility  of  his  journey  to  Rome,  and  naming  him  as  the 
representative  of    their  cause. 


Separation  from  the  Rcdemptorists.  255 


It  is  not  our  purpose  to  trace  the  progress  of  the  investiga- 
tion through  the  Roman  tribunals.  We  will  but  give  such  facts 
and  such  extracts  from  letters  as  throw  light  on  Father  Hecker's 
conduct  during  this  great  crisis.  One  might  be  curious  to  know 
something  about  the  friends  he  made  in  Rome.  The  foremost 
of  them  was  the  Cardinal  Prefect  of  the  Propaganda. 

"  The  impression  that  Cardinal  Barnabo  made  upon  me,"  he 
writes  in  one  of  his  earliest  letters,  "  was  most  unexpected ;  he 
was  so  quick  in  his  perceptions  and  penetration,  so  candid  and 
confiding  in  speaking  to  me.  He  was  more  like  a  father  and 
friend  ;  and  both  the  cardinal  and  the  archbishop  (Bedini)  ex- 
pressed such  warm  sympathy  in  my  behalf  that  it  made  me  feel, 
.  .  in  a  way  I  never  felt  before,  the  presence  of  God  in  those 
who  are  chosen  as  rulers  in  His  Church." 

In  another  letter  he  says : 

"He  (the  cardinal)  has  been  to  me  more  than  a  friend;  he  is 
to  me  a  father,  a  counsellor,  a  protector.  No  one  enjoys  so  high 
a  reputation  in  every  regard  in  Rome  as  the  cardinal.  He  gives 
me  free  access  to  him  and  confides  in  me." 

There  is  much  evidence,  too  much  to  quote  it  all,  that  the 
cardinal  was  drawn  to  Father  Hecker  on  account  of  his  simplic- 
ity and  openness  of  character,  his  frank  manner,  but  especially 
for  his  bold,  original  views  of  the  opportunity  of  religion  among 
free  peoples.  Cardinal  Barnabo  was  noted  for  his  sturdy  temper 
and  was  what  is  known  as  a  hard  hitter,  though  a  generous  oppo- 
nent as  well  as  an  earnest  friend.  He  espoused  Father  Hecker's 
cause  with  much  heartiness  ;  official  intercourse  soon  developed 
into  a  close  personal  attachment,  which  lasted  with  unabated 
warmth  till  the  strong  old  Roman  was  called  to  his  reward. 

Father  Hecker  speaks  in  his  letters  of  spending  time  with 
him,  not  only  on  business  but  in  discussing  questions  of  philoso- 
phy and  religious  controversy,  and  in  talking  over  the  whole 
American  outlook. 

The  cardinal  became  the  American  priest's  advocate  before 
the  Pope,  and  also  with  the  Congregation  of  Bishops  and  Regu- 
lars after  the  case  reached  that  tribunal.  "  When  I  heard  him 
speak  in  my  defence,"  he  said  in  after  times,  "  I  thanked  God 
that  he  was  not  against  me,  for  he  was  a  most  imperious  char- 
acter when  aroused,  and  there  seemed  no  resisting  him." 


256  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

Archbishop  Bedini,  the  Secretary  of  the  Propaganda,  was  an- 
other hearty  friend.  Our  older  readers  will  remember  that  he 
had  paid  a  visit  to  America  a  few  years  before  the  time  we  are 
considering,  and  that  his  presence  here  was  made  the  occasion 
for  some  of  the  more  violent  outbreaks  of  the  Know-nothing  ex- 
citement. He  knew  our  country  personally,  therefore,  and  was 
acquainted  with  very  many  of  our  clergy ;  his  assistance  to  the 
Roman  Court  in  this  case  was  of  special  value.  He  became  so 
demonstrative  in  his  friendship  for  Father  Hecker  that  the  Pope 
was  amused  at  it,  and  Father  Hecker  relates  in  his  letters  home 
how  the  Holy  Father  rallied  him  about  the  warmth  of  his  advo- 
cacy of  the  American  priest's  cause,  as  did  various  members  of 
the  Pontifical   court. 

At  that  time  and  for  many  years  afterwards  Doctor  Bernard 
Smith,  an  Irish  Benedictine  monk,  was  Professor  of  Dogmatic 
Theology  in  the  College  of  the  Propaganda  ;  he  is  now  the  hon- 
ored abbot  of  the  great  Basilica  of  St.  Paul  without-the-walls. 
How  Father  Hecker  came  to  know  the  learned  professor  we 
have  been  unable  to  discover  ;  but  both  he  and  Monsignor  Kirby, 
of  the  Irish  College,  became  his  firm  friends  and  powerful  advo- 
cates. Without  Doctor  Smith's  advice,  indeed,  scarcely  a  step 
was  taken  in  the  case. 

An  unexpected  ally  was  found  in  Bishop  Connolly,  of  St. 
John's,  New  Brunswick.  He  had  been  robbed  on  his  way  between 
Civita  Vecchia  and  Rome,  and  that  misfortune  gave  him  a  special 
claim  to  the  regard  of  the  Pope,  with  whom  he  soon  became  a 
favorite.  The  Holy  Father  admired  in  him  that  energy  of  char- 
acter and  zeal  for  religion  which  distinguished  him  in  after  years  as 
Archbishop  of  Halifax.  On  hearing  of  Father  Hecker's  case  he 
studied  it  on  account  of  sympathetic  interest  in  the  aspects  of 
Catholicity  in  the  United  States,  part  of  his  diocese  being  at 
that  time,  we  believe,  in  the  State  of  Maine.  How  ardent  his 
friendship  for  Father  Hecker  soon  became  is  shown  by  his  ex- 
clamation: "  I  am  ready  to  die  for  you,  and  I  am  going  to  tell 
the  Pope  so."  He  even  offered  to  assist  Father  Hecker  in  pay- 
ing his  personal  expenses  while  in  Rome.  In  a  letter  to  the 
American  Fathers  of  December   18  Father  Hecker  writes  : 

"  Another  recent  and  providential  event  in  our  favor  has 
been  the  friendship  of  Bishop  Connolly,  of  St.  John's,  New  Bruns- 
wick.      By  his  extraordinary  exertions    and    his  warm    friendship 


Separation  from  the  Rcdcmptorists.  257 

for  us  he  has  succeeded  in  giving  us  the  vantage  ground  in  all 
quarters  where  we  were  not  in  good  favor.  I  told  you  in  the 
last  note  that  he  had  spoken  to  the  Holy  Father  in  favor  of 
our  cause,  but  I  had  no  time  to  give  you  the  substance  of  what 
was  said.  Bishop  Connolly  is  a  full-blooded  Irishman,  but,  for- 
tunately for  us,  not  implicated  in  any  party  views  in  our  coun- 
try, and  seeing  that  the  Propaganda  regarded  our  cause  as  its 
own  and  had  identified  itself  with  our  success,  ...  it  being 
friendly  to  us  as  missionaries,  he  exerted  all  his  influence  in 
our  favor.  His  influence  was  not  slight,  for  the  Pope  had  con- 
ceived a  great  friendship  for  him,  and  heaped  all  sorts  of  honors 
on  him.  Well,  he  had  a  regular  tussle  with  his  Holiness  about 
us  and  our  cause,  and  when  the  Holy  Father  repeated  some 
things  said  of  me — against  me,  of  course — he  replied :  :  Your 
Holiness,  I  should  not  be  at  all  surprised  if  some  fine  day  you 
yourself  would  have  to  canonize  one  of  these  Yankee  fellows.' 
In  one  word,  he  left  nothing  unsaid  or  undone  with  the  Pope 
in  our  favor  ;  and  the  Pope  suggested  to  him  obtaining  dispen- 
sation of  our  vows  and  forming  a  new  company.  '  They  cannot 
expect  me,'  he  said,  '  to  take  the  initiatory  step  ;  this  would  be 
putting  the  cart  before  the  horse.  Let  them  do  this,  and  pre- 
sent their  plan  to  me,  and  if  I  find  it  good,  it  shall  have  my 
consent.'  .  .  .  The  bishop  has  also  seen  and  won  over  to  our 
favor  Monsignor  Talbot,  who  said  to  him  :  '  The  only  way  now 
of  settling  the  difficulties  is  to  give  the  American  Fathers  the 
liberty  to  form  a  new  company  for  the  American  missions.'  In 
addition,  the  bishop  wrote  a  strong  document  in  favor  of  our 
missions  and  of  us,  and  presented  it  to  Cardinal  Barnabo,  which 
will  be  handed  in  to  the  Congregation  of  Bishops  and  Regulars, 
who  have  our  affairs  in  hand.  ...  If  this  good  bishop 
should  come  in  your  way,  whether  by  writing  or  otherwise,  you 
cannot  be  too  grateful  for  what  he  has  done  for  us.  After  Car- 
dinal Barnabo  and  Archbishop  Bedini  we  owe  more  to  him  than 
to  any  one  else. 

1  Wind  and  tide  are  now  in  our  favor,  and  my  plan  is  to 
keep  quiet  and  stick  close  to  the  rudder  to  see  that  the  ship 
keeps   right." 

On  his  way  home  from  Rome  Bishop  Connolly  wrote  the 
following  letter  to  Father  Hecker,  dated  at  Marseilles,  January 
20,   1858: 


258  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 

"  From  the  deep  interest  I  feel  in  your  concerns  you  will 
pardon  my  curiosity  in  wishing  to  have  the  earliest  intelligence 
of  your  fate  in  the  Congregation  of  Bishops  and  Regulars.  I 
could  wish  I  were  near  you  all  the  time,  and  have  nothing  else 
to  attend  to ;  but  you  have  got  One  more  powerful  than  I  at 
your  right  hand.  Fix  your  hopes  in  Him  and  you  will  not  be 
confounded.  After  having  done  everything  on  your  part  that 
unsleeping  energy  as  well  as  prudence  could  suggest,  you  must 
take  the  issue,  however  unpalatable  it  may  be,  as  the  undoubted 
expression  of  God's  will,  and  act  (as  I  am  sure  you  will  act) 
accordingly.  .  .  .  You  must  keep  steadily  in  view  the  glori- 
ous principle  for  which  you  came  to  Rome,  and  which  I  am 
convinced  is  for  the  greater  glory  of  God  and  the  greater  good 
of  religion  in  America.  If  you  can  start  as  a  religious  body  with 
the  approbation  of  Rome,  this  would  be  the  holiest  and  most 
auspicious  consummation.  ...  Be  guided  at  every  step  by 
the  holy  and  enlightened  men  whose  sympathies  you  have  won 
and  in  whose  hands  you  will  be  always  safe  :  Cardinal  Barnabo 
in  primis,  and  after  him  Monsignor  Bedini  and  Doctors  Kirby 
and  Smith.  United  with  them  at  every  step,  failure  is  impos- 
sible— you  must  and  you  will  succeed.  T  am  sure  that 
you  know  and  feel  this  as  well  as  I  do  (for  we  have  been 
marvellously  of  the  same  way  of  thinking  on  nearly  all  points), 
but  as  I  feel  I  must  write  to  you,  as  it  may  be,  perchance,  of 
some  consolation  to  you  in  your  troubles.  I  thought  it  better  to 
say  it  over  again.  ...  If  a  letter  or  anything  else  from 
me  could  be  of  any  service,  I  need  not  tell  you  that  I  am  still 
on  hand  and  only  anxious  to  be  employed.  [Here  follows  his 
address  in  Paris  and  Liverpool.]  With  all  good  wishes  for  your 
success,  and  with  the  hope  of  hearing  the  happy  tidings  from 
your  own  hand  before  I  leave  Europe,  I  am,  Reverend  dear  Sir, 

"  Very  faithfully  yours  in  Christ, 

"  f  Thomas   L.  Connolly, 

"  Bishop  of  St.  John's,  N.  B." 

From  what  has  been  so  far  communicated  to  the  reader,  it 
will  be  seen  that  Father  Hecker's  case  had  the  strength  of 
friendship  to  assist  it.  But  he  was  himself  his  best  advocate. 
His  traits  of  character  were  lovable,  and  the  very  incongruity 
of  such  a  man  forced  to  plead  against  the  direst  penalty  known 
to  a  religious,  was  a  singularly  strong  argument.  His  cheerful 
demeanor  while  fighting  for  his  life  ;  his  puzzling  questions  on 
social  and  philosophical  points  ;  his  mingled  mysticism  and  prac- 
tical judgment ;  his  utterance  of  political  sentiments  which,  as  he 
truly    said  in  one  of   his  letters,  if  spoken  by    any    one    but    an 


Separation  from  the  Rcdcmptorists.  259 


American  would  elicit  instant  reproof;  his  total  lack  of  obse- 
quiousness united  to  entire  submission  to  lawful  authority,  all 
helped  to  make  for  himself  and  his  cause  friends  in  every  di- 
rection. 

The  unanimous  adhesion  of  the  American  Redemptorist  mis- 
sionaries was  a  powerful  element  in  his  favor,  and  a  priceless 
boon  for  his  own  consolation.  lie  was  continually  in  receipt  of 
such  words  as  these  :  "  We  all  desire  you  to  consider  us  fully 
identified  with  you  and  to  act  in  our  name."  "  We  have  the 
utmost  confidence  in  your  discretion,  and  your  conservative 
views  are  quite  to  our  mind."  His  whole  heart  went  out  in 
response  to  these  greetings.  On  October  24  he  writes  to  the 
Fathers  : 

"  The  contents  of  your  note  were  what  I  had  a  right  to  ex- 
pect from  you  :  sympathy,  confidence,  and  reliance  on  Divine 
Providence.  How  much  these  trials  will  endear  us  to  each 
other  !  If  we  keep  together  as  one  man  and  regard  only  God, 
defeat  is  impossible.  Do  not  forget  to  offer  up  continually 
prayers  for  me.  How  much  I  see  the  hand  of  Providence  in 
all  our  difficulties !  And  the  end  will,  I  trust,  make  it  evi- 
dent  as   the  sun." 

But  where  he  placed  his  entire  trust  is  shown  by  the  fol- 
lowing, a  part  of  the  same  letter  : 

"  Our  affairs  are  in  the  hands  of  God.  I  hope  no  one  will 
feel  discouraged,  nor  fear  for  me.  All  that  is  needed  to  bring 
the  interests  of  God  to  a  successful  issue  is  grace,  grace,  grace; 
and  this  is  obtained  by  prayer.  And  if  the  American  Fathers 
will  only  pray  and  get  others  to  pray,  and  not  let  any  one 
have  the  slightest  reason  to  bring  a  word  against  them  in  our 
present  crisis,  God  will  be  with  us  and  help  us,  and  Our  Lady 
will  take  good  care  of  us.  So  far  no  step  taken  in  our  past 
need  be  regretted.  If  it  were  to  be  done  again  it  would  have 
my  consent.  The  blow  given  to  me  I  have  endeavored  to  re- 
ceive with  humility  and  in  view  of  God.  It  has  not  produced 
any  trouble  in  my  soul,  nor  made  me  waver  in  the  slightest  de- 
gree in  my  confidence  in  God  or  my  duty  towards  Him.  Let 
us  not  be  impatient.  God  is  with  us  and  will  lead  us  if  we 
confide  in   Him." 


260  The  Life  of  Father  Hcckcr. 


During  his  stay  in  Rome  he  corresponded  regularly  with 
his  brother  George,  whose  ever-open  purse  paid  all  his  ex- 
penses. We  have  also  found  a  very  long  letter  of  loving  friend- 
skip— from  Doctor  Brownson,  conveying  the  profoundest  sympa- 
thy. This  came  during  the  most  critical  period  of  the  case  and 
gave  much  consolation.  It  called  forth  an  answer  equally 
affectionate. 

He  received  exceedingly  sympathetic  letters  from  Fathers  de 
Held  and  de  Buggenoms.  The  former  was  at  the  time  rector 
of  the  house  in  Liege,  and  wrote  a  letter  to  Cardinal  Barnabo,  a 
copy  of  which  has  been  preserved,  which  treats  most  favorably 
of  Father  Hecker's  character  and  discusses  his  case  at  length, 
petitioning  a  decision  which  should  reinstate  him  in  the  order. 

Late  in  November  he  sought  an  interview  with  Cardinal 
Reisacb,  holding  him  closely  interested  for  two  hours,  conversing 
upon  American  religious  prospects  and  quite  winning  his  friend- 
ship. By  means  of  such  interviews,  which,  at  Cardinal  Barna- 
bo's  suggestion,  he  sought  with  the  chief  prelates  in  Rome,  he 
became  widely  known  in  the  city,  and  the  state  of  religion  in 
America  was  made  a  common  topic  of  conversation. 

The  following  introduces  a  singular  phase  in  the  case.  It  is 
from  a  letter  written  before  the  end  of  September,  less  than  a 
month  after  his  arrival : 

"  My  leisure  moments  are  occupied  in  writing  an  article  on 
the  '  Present  Condition  and  Future  Prospects  of  the  Catholic 
Faith  in  the  United  States,'  for  the  Civilta  Cattolica.  They 
have  promised  to  translate  and  publish  it." 

The  Civilta  is  still  a  leading  Catholic  journal,  the  foremost 
exponent  of  the  views  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  At  that  time  it 
was  the  official  organ  of  Pius  IX.,  who  read  all  its  articles  in  the 
proofs,  and  it  went  everywhere  in  Catholic  circles.  The  editors 
became  fast  friends  of  Father  Hecker,  though  we  are  not  aware 
that  they  took  sides  in  his  case.  His  article  was  divided  in  the 
editing,  and  appeared  in  two  successive  numbers  of  the  maga- 
zine. It  attracted  wide  attention,  being  translated  and  printed 
in  the  chief  Catholic  periodicals  of  France,  Belgium,  and  Ger- 
many, and  published  by  Mr.  McMaster  in  the  Freeman's  Jour- 
nal. In  Rome  it  served  a  good  purpose.  To  some  its  views 
were  startling,  but  its  tone    was  fresh  and    enlivening.     It  under- 


Separation  from  the  Rcdcmptorists.  261 

took  to  show  that  the  freest  nation  in  the  world  was  the  most 
inviting  field  for  the  Catholic  propagandist.  We  suppose  that  the 
author's  main  purpose  in  writing  was  but  to  invite  attention  to 
America,  yet  he  so  affected  public  opinion  in  Rome  as  to  ma- 
terially assist  the  adjustment  of  the  difficulty  pending  before  the 
high  tribunals.  Cardinal  Barnabo  was  quite  urgent  with  Father 
Hecker  that  he  should  write  more  of  the  same  kind,  but  either 
his  occupations  or  his  expectation  of  an  early  return  home  hin- 
dered his  doing  so.  As  it  was,  he  had  caused  himself  and  the 
American  Fathers  to  be  viewed  by  men  generally  through  the 
medium  of  the  great  question  of  the  relation  of  religion  to  the 
young  Republic  of  the  Western  World.  That  topic  was  fortun- 
ate in  having  him  for  its  exponent.  He  was  an  object-lesson 
of  the  aspirations  of  enlightened  Catholic  Americans  as  well  as 
an  exalted  type  of  Catholic  missionary  zeal.  Very  few  men  of 
discernment  ever  really  knew  Father  Hecker  but  to  admire  him 
and  to  be  ready  to  be  persuaded  by  him  of  his  life-thesis  :  that 
a  free  man  tends  to  be  a  good  Catholic,  and  a  free  nation  is 
the  most  promising  field  for  apostolic  zeal. 

Soon  after  his  arrival  in  Rome  he  made  the  acquaintance  of 
George  L.  Brown,  an  American  artist  of  some  note,  and  a  non- 
Catholic.  He  was  an  earnest  man,  and  Father  Hecker  attacked 
him  at  once  on  the  score  of  religion,  and  before  December  had  re- 
ceived him  into  the  Church.  This  event  made  quite  a  stir  in  Rome. 
The  city  was  always  full  of  artists  and  their  patrons,  and  Mr. 
Brown's  conversion,  together  with  the  articles  in  the  Civilta,  in- 
fluenced in  Father  Hecker's  favor  many  persons  whom  he  could 
not  directly  reach.  This  was  especially  the  case  with  the  Pope,  to 
whose  notice  such  matters  were  brought  by  Archbishop  Bedini, 
his  office  enabling  him  to  approach  the  Holy  Father  at  short  in- 
tervals. He  exerted  a  similar  influence  on  all  the  high  officials  of 
the  Roman  court. 

In  spite  of  all  this  favor  the  usual  delays  attendant  upon 
serious  judicial  investigations  oppressed  Father  Hecker  with  the 
heavy  dread  of  "  the  law's-  delay,"  detaining  him  in  Rome  from 
the  first  week  in  September,  1857,  when  the  case  was  opened  in 
the  Propaganda,  till  it  was  closed  by  the  decision  of  the  Con- 
gregation of  Bishops  and  Regulars  early  in  the  following  March. 
Nor  was  the  "  insolence  of  office  "  quite  absent.  He  was  once 
heard  to  tell  of  his  having  been  snubbed  in  the  Pope's  antecham- 
ber   by  some  one  in  attendance,  and  often     put  aside  till  he  was 


V 


262  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

vexed  with  many  weary  hours  of  waiting  and  by  being  compelled 
to  repeatedly  return. 

"  I  had  to  wait  for  three  days,"  we  read  in  the  memoranda, 
"  and  then  was  reproached  and  scolded  by  the  monsignor  in 
attendance  for  coming  late.  I  had  not  come  late  but  had  been 
kept  waiting  outside,  and  I  told  him  so.  '  You  will  see  those  hills 
of  Albano  move,'  said  I,  '  before  I  move  from  my  purpose  to 
see  the  Holy  Father.'  When  he  saw  my  determination  he  chang- 
ed and  gave  me  my  desired  audience." 

When  events  had  taken  the  question  out  of  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  Redemptorist  order  and  into  the  general  court  of  the  Cath- 
olic Church,  its  settlement  was  found  to  be  difficult.  The  resto- 
ration of  Father  Hecker  by  a  judicial  decision  would  not,  it  is 
plain,  have  left  him  and  his  companions  in  that  harmonious  rela- 
tion so  essential  to  their  personal  happiness  and  to  their  success 
as  missionaries.  It  was  then  suggested  that  they  should  petition 
for  a  separate  organization  under  the  Rule  of  St.  Alphonsus  ap- 
proved by  Benedict  XIV.,  acting  directly  subject  to  the  Holy 
See,  thus  making  two  Redemptorist  bodies  in  the  United  States, 
as  is  the  case  with  various  Franciscan  communities.  It  was  also 
suggested  that  the  Cisalpine,  or  Neapolitan  Redemptorists,  at  that 
time  an  independent  congregation,  would  gladly  take  the  Amer- 
ican Fathers  under  their  jurisdiction.  The  alternative  was  what 
afterwards  took  place — the  dispensation  of  the  Fathers  from  their 
vows,  in  view  of  their  forming  their  own  organization  under  direc- 
tion of  the  Bishops  and  the  Holy  See.  A  petition  praying  the 
Holy  Father  to  give  them  either  the  Rule  of  Benedict  XIV.  in 
the  sense  above  suggested,  or  their  dispensations  from  the  vows, 
was  drawn  up  and  forwarded  by  the  Fathers  remaining  in  Amer- 
ica, the  dispensation  being  named  as  the  last  resort.  Father 
Hecker's  legal  case  not  being  decided,  he  was  advised  by  Cardi- 
nal Barnabo  to  reserve  his  signature  to  this  document  for  the 
present.  It  will  be  seen  at  a  glance  that  the  dispensation  from 
the  vows  and  an  entirely  new  departure  in  community  existence 
was  more  in  accordance  with  his  aspirations.  But  no  aspiration 
was  so  strong  in  him  as  love  of  his  brethren,  and  he  was  fully 
determined  not  to  be  separated  from  them  if  he  could  pre- 
vent it. 

Much  delay  was  caused  by  waiting  for  further  testimonials 
from  American  bishops  confirmatory  of  the  good  character  of  the 
Fathers  and  of  the  value  of   their  labors  as  missionaries.     Father 


Separation  from  the  Rcdcmptorists.  263 

Hecker,  meantime,  wrote  many  letters  to  his  brethren  discussing 
the  alternatives  in  question. 

In  one  of  October  24  he  tells  of  a  pilgrimage  he  made  to 
Nocera,  to  the  tomb  of  St.  Alphonsus,  bearing  his  brethren  in  his 
heart  with  him.  He  also  visited  the  Redemptorist  house  there 
and  in  Naples,  and  was  quite  charmed  with  the  fathers,  who  were 
entirely  willing  to  receive  the  Americans  into  their  organization, 
which,  as  the  reader  knows,  was  separate  from  that  of  the  Gen- 
eral in  Rome.  Knowing  the  mind  of  his  brethren,  and  deter- 
mined to  take  no  step  alone,  Father  Hecker  would  have  been 
content  with  this  arrangement  had  it  seemed  good  to  the  Holy 
See.  Meantime  he  tells  how  greatly  he  enjoyed  his  visit  to  No- 
cera, how  he  said  Mass  over  the  holy  body  of  the  founder,  and 
adds  :  "  Ever  since  I  feel  more  consoled  and  supported  and  con- 
fident." 

The  following  is  from  a  joint  letter  of  the  American  Fathers 
dated  November  17;  they  prefer,  in  case  Father  Hecker  is  not 
reinstated,  being  separated  from  the  order  and  made  "  immedi- 
ately dependent  on  the  Holy  See,  or  the  Prefect  of  the  Propa- 
ganda, rather  than  anything  else ;  .  .  .  called,  for  instance, 
'  Religious  Missionaries  of  the  Propaganda,'  if  the  Holy  Father 
would  make  us  such.  With  the  Rule  of  St.  Alphonsus  and  the 
same  missionary  privileges  we  now  enjoy,  and  our  dear  Father 
Hecker  among  us  again,  we  should  feel  happy  and  safe.  .  .  . 
But  we  wait  for  the  words  of  the  Holy  See  to  indicate  our 
course." 

His  words  to  them  are  to  the  same  effect:  "Our  first  effort 
should  be  directed  to  the  securing  our  hopes  through  the  Transal- 
pine Congregation  [this  means  the  regular  Redemptorist  order  to 
which  they  then  belonged].  ...  If  this  is  not  successful,  then  to 
endeavor  to  accomplish  our  hopes  through  the  Cisalpine  [Neapoli- 
tan] Fathers,  who  will  be  heart  and  soul  with  us  and  grant  all 
our  best  desires.  Or,  thirdly,  to  obtain  permission  to  act  as  a 
band  of  missionaries  in  our  country  under  the  protection,  for  the 
present,  of  some  bishop.  .  .  .  It  is  a  consolation  to  me  to  see 
that  our  affairs  are  so  far  developed  and  known,  and  our  views 
are  so  identical  that  you  can  act  on  your  part,  and  write,  with- 
out having  to  delay  for  information  [from  me].  You  can  easily 
imagine  that  it  was  no  pleasant  state  for  me  to  be  in  while  in 
suspense  about  what  would  be  the  determination  you  would  come 
to.     Thank   God    and    Our   Lady,  your   recent    letter    set    that   all 


264  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

aside !  The  work  now  to  be  done  is  plain,  and  the  greatest  care 
and  prudence  is  to  be  exercised  not  to  commit  any  fault,  or 
make  any  mistake  which  may  be  to  us  a  source  of  regret  after- 
wards." 

In  another  letter  he  says  that  Cardinal  Barnabo  spoke  of  the 
unpleasant  relations  likely  to  exist  after  his  restoration  to  the 
order,  and  then  continues : 

"  The  cardinal  had  a  long  conversation  with  me,  and  he  sug- 
gested whether  God  might  not  desire  of  me  a  special  work.  I 
told  him  I  would  not  think  of  this  while  the  dismission  was  over 
my  head.  He  said,  '  Of  course  not ;  for  if  you  are  a  mauvais 
sitjet,  as  the  General  thinks,  God  will  surely  not  use  you  for  any 
special  mission.'"  The  letter  here  details  more  of  the  exchange 
of  views  between  the  cardinal  and  Father  Hecker,  the  latter  as- 
tounded to  hear  from  this  direction  suggestions  so  closely  tally- 
ing with  his  own  interior  aspirations  about  the  apostolic  outlook 
in  America.  "  But,"  continues  the  letter,  "  you  must  well  under- 
stand that  I  should  not  accept  such  a  proposition  for  myself  be- 
fore having  asked  the  best  counsel  of  men  of  God  and  received 
their  unhesitating  approval  of  its  being  God's  will.  There  are 
holy  men  here,  and  I  take  counsel  with  them  in  every  impor- 
tant step ;  and  they  are  religious,  so  that  they  are  good  judges 
in  such  important  matters.  ...  If  God  wishes  to  make  use 
of  us  in  such  a  design,  and  I  can  be  assured  of  this  on  compe- 
tent authority,  whatever  it  may  cost,  with  His  grace  I  will  not 
shrink  from  it.  I  call  competent  authority  the  approbation  of 
good  and  holy  men,  and  one  like  the  cardinal,  who  knows  the 
country,  knows  all  our  affairs  now,  and  has  every  quality  of  mind 
and  heart  to  be  a  competent  judge  in  this  important  matter. 
Though  you  have  made  ma  your  plenipotentiary,  yet  this  is  an 
individual  affair,  one  we  did  not  contemplate,  one  of  the  highest 
import  to  our  salvation  and  sanctification,  and  must  depend  on 
God   and  our  individual  conscience. 

"  Even  before  making  this  proposition  to  you  I  asked  advice 
from  my  spiritual  director,  and  he  approved  of  it.  You  may  be 
confident  that  in  every  step  which  I  take  I  endeavor  to  be  ac- 
tuated by  the  spirit  of  God,  and  take  every  means  to  assure  my- 
self of  it,  so  that  hereafter  no  scruple  may  trouble  my  conscience, 
and  God's  blessing  be  with  me  and  you  also." 


Separation  from  the  Redcmptorists.  265 

He  writes  thus  towards  the  end  of  September :  "  The  more 
I  think  of  our  difficulties  the  more  I  am  inclined  to  believe 
that  they  may  have  been  permitted  by  a  good  God  for  the  very 
purpose  of  a  work  of  this  kind.  If  wise  and  holy  men  say  so, 
and  we  have  the  approbation  of  the  Holy  See,  is  it  not  a  mis- 
sion offered  to  us  by  Divine  Providence,  and  ought  we  not 
cheerfully  to  embrace  it  ?  " 

And  on  October  5  :  "I  hope  God  has  inspired  you  with 
some  means  of  coming  to  my  help.  Indeed,  it  is  a  difficult  po- 
sition, and  the  best  I  can  do  is  to  throw  myself  constantly  on 
Divine  Providence  and  be  guided  by  Him.  You  will  remember, 
and  I  hope,  before  this  reaches  you,  will  have  answered  my 
proposition  in  my  last  note,  whether  or  not  you  would  be 
willing  to  form  an  independent  band  of  missionaries  to  be  de- 
voted to  the  great  wants  of  the  country.  I  have  consid- 
ered and  reconsidered,  and  prayed  and  prayed,  and  in  spite 
of  my  fears  this  seems  to  me  the  direction  in  which  Divine 
Providence  calls  ns.  .  .  .  With  all  the  difficulties,  dangers, 
and  struggles  that  another  [community]  movement  presents  be- 
fore me,  I  feel  more  and  more  convinced  that  it  is  this  that 
Divine  Providence  asks  of  us.  If  we  should  act  in  concert 
its  success  cannot  be  doubted — success  not  only  as  regards 
our  present  kind  of  labors,  but  in  a  variety  of  other  ways 
which  are  open  to  us  in  our  new  country.  ...  If  you  are 
prepared  to  move  in  this  direction  it  would  be  best,  and  indeed 
necessary,  not  only  to  write  to  me  your  assent,  but  also  a  memo- 
rial to  the  Propaganda — to  Cardinal  Barnabo — stating  the  inter- 
ests and  wants  of  religion  and  of  the  country,  and  then  petition 
to  be  permitted  to  turn  your  labors  in  this  direction. 

"  Such  a  course  involves  the  release  of  your  obligations  to 
the  [Redemptorist]  Congregation,  and  this  would  have  to  be  ex- 
pressed distinctly  in  your  petition,  and  motived  by  good  rea- 
sons there  given." 

Further  on  in  the  same  letter  he  adds  :  "  Since  writing  the 
above  I  have  had  time  for  more  reflection,  and  consulted  with 
my  spiritual  adviser,  and  this  course  appears  to  be  the  one  Di- 
vine Providence  points  out." 

This  very  important  letter  ends  as  follows :  "  I  endeavor  to 
keep  close  to  God,  to  keep  up  my  confidence  in  His  protection, 
and  in  the  aid  of  Our  Blessed  Lady.  I  pray  for  you  all  ;  you 
cannot  forget  me  in    your  prayers." 


266  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

Then  follow  suggestions  about  obtaining  testimonials  from 
the  American  hierarchy  for  the  information  of  the  Holy  See  in  a 
final  settlement  of  the  entire  case.  The  prelates  who  wrote,  all 
very  favorably,  were  :  Archbishops  Hughes  of  New  York,  Ken- 
rick  of  Baltimore,  Purcell  of  Cincinnati,  Bishops  Bayley  of  New- 
ark, Spalding  of  Louisville  (both  afterwards  Archbishops  of  Bal- 
timore), Lynch  of  Charleston,  Barry  of  Savannah,  and  De  Goes- 
briand  of  Burlington,  Vermont. 

On  October  26,  while  wondering  what  would  next  happen, 
he  writes  :  "  As  for  my  part,  I  do  not  see  one  step  ahead,  but 
at  the  same  time  I  never  felt  so  closely  embraced  in  the  arms 
of  Divine  Providence."  But  on  the  next  day:  "It  seems  to  me 
a  great  and  entire    change  awaits  us.  We  are  all  of  us 

young,  and  if  we  keep  close  and  true  to  God — and  there  is 
nothing  but  ourselves  to  prevent  this — a  great  and  hopeful  fu- 
ture is  at  our  waiting.  I  know  you  pray  for  me  ;  continue  to 
do  so,  and  believe  me  always  your  wholly  devoted  friend  and 
brother  in  Jesus  and   Mary." 

On  November  12:  "My  present  impression  is  that  neither 
union  with  the  Cisalpine  Fathers  nor  separation  as  a  band  of 
[independent  Redemptorist]  missionaries  in  the  United  States 
will  be  approved  of  here.  .  .  .  What  appears  to  me  more  and 
more  probable  is  that  we  shall  have  to  start  entirely  upon  our 
own  basis.  This  is  perhaps  the  best  of  all,  all  things  c6nsidered. 
Such  a  movement  has  from  the  beginning  seemed  to 
me  the  one  to  which  Divine  Providence  calls  us,  but  I  always 
felt  timid  as  long  as  any  door  was  left  open  for  us  to  act  in 
the  Congregation.  ...  I  feel  prepared  to  take  this  step 
with  you  without  hesitation  and  with  great  confidence. 
I  should  have  been  glad,  as  soon  as  my  dismission  was  given,  to 
have  started  on  in  such  a  movement.  But  then  it  was  my  first 
duty  to  see  whether  this  work  could  not  be  accomplished  by 
the  Congregation  [of  the  Most  Holy  Redeemer]  ;  and,  besides, 
I  was  not  sure,  as  I  now  am,  of  your  views  being  the  same  as 
mine.  .  .  .  All  indicates  the  will  of  Divine  Providence  in 
our  regard  and  gives   me  confidence. 

"Father  Hewit's  letter,  confirming  your  readiness  to  share  your 
fortunes  with  me,  was  most  consoling  and  strengthening.  God 
knows  we  seek  only  His  interest  and  glory  and  are  ready  to 
suffer  anything    rather  than  offend  Him.     .     .     . 

"  We    should    take    our    present    missions  as  the  basis  of  our 


Separation  from  the  Redcmptorists.  267 

unity  and  activity ;  at  the  same  time  not  be  exclusively  restricted 
to  them,  but  leave  ourselves  at  liberty  to  adapt  ourselves  to  the  [re- 
ligious] wants  which  may  present  themselves  in  our  country.  Were 
the  question  presented  to  me  to  restrict  myself  exclusively  to 
missions,  "in  that  case  I  should  feel  in  conscience  bound  to  obtain 
from  holy  men  a  decision  on  the  question  whether  God  had  not 
pointed  out  another  field  for  me.  .  .  .  Taking  our  missions 
and  our  present  mode  of  life  as  the  groundwork,  the  rest  will 
have  to  be  left  to  Divine  Providence,  the  character  of  the  coun- 
try, and  our  own  spirit  of  faith  and  good  common  sense." 

In  the  same  letter,  that  of  December  25,  he  hopes  that  if  the 
Holy  See  separates  them  from  old  affiliations  they  will  form  a 
society  "  which  would  embody  in  its  life  what  is  good  in  the  Amer- 
ican people  in  the  natural  order  and  adapt  itself  to  answer  the 
great  wants  of  our  people  in  the  spiritual  order.  I  must  confess 
to  you  frankly  that  thoughts  of  this  kind  do  occupy  my  mind,  and 
day  by  day  they  appear  to  me  to  come  more  clearly  from  heaven. 
I  cannot  refuse  to  entertain  them  without  resisting  what  appear 
to  me  the  inspirations  of  God.  You  know  that  these  are  not 
new  opinions  hastily  adopted.  From  the  beginning  of  my  Cath- 
olic life  there  seemed  always  before  me,  but  not  distinctly,  some 
such  work,  and  it  is  indicated  both  in  Questions  of  the  Sou/  and 
Aspirations  of  Nature.  And  I  cannot  resist  the  thought  that  my 
present  peculiar  position  is  or  may  be  providential  to  further 
some  such  undertaking.  ...  It  might  be  imagined  that  these 
views  were  but  a  ruse  of  the  devil  to  thwart  our  common  cause 
and  future  prospects.  To  this  I  have  only  to  answer  that  the 
old  rascal  has  been  a  long  time  at  work  to  reach  this  point.  If 
it  be  he,  I  shall  head  him  off,  because  all  that  regards  my  per- 
sonal vocation  I  shall  submit  to  wise  and  holy  men  and  obey 
what  they  tell    me." 

Father  Hecker  had  his  first  audience  with  Pius  IX.,  after 
much  delay,  on  December  22.  "  I  felt,"  he  said,  in  giving  an 
account  of  it  in  after  years,  "  that  my  trouble  in  Rome  .  was 
the  great  crisis  in  my  life.  I  had  one  way  of  telling  that  I  was 
not  like  Martin  Luther  :  in  my  inmost  soul  I  was  ready,  entire- 
ly ready,  to  submit  to  the  judgment  of  the  Church.  They  had 
made  me  out  a  rebel  and  a  radical  to  the  Holy  Father,  and 
when  I  saw  him  alone,  after  the  usual  salutations,  and  while  on 
my  knees,  I  said :  '  Look  at  me,  Holy  Father ;  see,  my  shoul- 
ders are    broad.     Lay  on    the    stripes.     I  will  bear  them.     All  I 


268  The  Life  of  FatJicr  Hecker. 

want  is  justice.  I  want  you  to  judge  my  case.  I  will  submit' 
The  Pope's  eyes  filled  with  tears  at  these  words,  and  his  man- 
ner was  very  kind."  The  rest  of  the  interview  is  given  in  a 
letter:  "The  Pope  bade  me  rise  and  told  me  he  was  informed 
all  about  my  affairs.  Then  he  asked  what  was  my  desire.  I  re- 
plied that  he  might  have  the  goodness  to  examine  the  purpose 
of  my  coming  to  Rome,  'since  it  regarded  the  conversion  of  the 
American  people,  a  work  which  the  most  intelligent  and  pious  Cath- 
olics have  at  heart,  among  others  Dr.  Ives,  whom  you  know.'  'Yes,' 
he  said;  'has  his  wife  become  a  Catholic?'  I  replied  in  the  af- 
firmative. '  But  what  can  I  do  ? '  he  said  ;  '  the  affair  is  being 
examined  by  Archbishop  Bizarri  (Secretary  of  the  Congregation 
of  Bishops  and  Regulars),  and  nothing  can  be  done  until  he  gives 
in  his  report;  then  I  will  give  my  opinion  and  my  decision.'  'Your 
decision,  most  Holy  Father,  is  God's  decision,  and  whatever  it 
may  be  willingly  and  humbly  will  I  submit  to  it'  While  I  was 
making  this  remark  his  Holiness  paid  the  greatest  attention,  and 
it  seemed  to  satisfy  and  please  him.  '  The  American  people,'  he 
continued,  '  are  much  engrossed  in  worldly  things  and  in  the  pur- 
suit of  wealth,  and  these  are  not  favorable  to  religion;  it  is  not  I 
who  say  so,  but  our  Lord  in  the  Gospel.'  'The  United  States,  your 
Holiness,'  I  replied,  '  is  in  its  youth,  and,  like  a  young  father  of  a 
family  occupied  in  furnishing  his  house,  while  this  is  going  on 
he  must  be  busy;  but  the  American  people  do  not  make  money  to 
hoard  it,  nor  are  they  miserly.'  'No,  no,'  he  replied;  'they 
are  willing  to  give  when  they  possess  riches.  The  bishops  tell 
me  they  are  generous  in  aiding  the  building  of  churches.  You 
see,'  he  added,  '  I  know  the  bright  side  as  well  as  the  dark  side 
of  the  Americans  ;  but  in  the  United  States  there  exists  a  too 
unrestricted  freedom,  all  the  refugees  and  revolutionists  gather 
there  and  are  in  full  liberty.'  '  True,  most  Holy  Father  ;  but  this 
has  a  good  side.  Many  of  them,  seeing  in  the  United  States  that 
the  Church  is  self-subsisting  and  not  necessarily  connected  with 
what  they  call  despotism,  begin  to  regard  it  as  a  Divine  institu- 
tion and  return  to  her  fold.'  'Yes,'  he  said,  'the  Church  is  as 
much  at  home  in  a  republic  as  in  a  monarchy  or  aristocracy. 
But  then,  again,  you  have  the  abolitionists  and  their  opponents, 
who  get  each  other  by  the  hair.'  'There  is  also  the  Catholic 
faith,  Holy  Father,  which  if  once  known  would  act  on  these  par- 
ties like  oil  upon  troubled  waters,  and  our  best-informed  states- 
men are  becoming   more  and   more  convinced  that   Catholicity  is 


Separation  from  the  Rcdcmptorists.  269 

necessary  to  sustain  our  institutions,  and  enable  our  young  coun- 
try to  realize  her  great  destiny.  And  allow  me  to  add,  most 
Holy  Father,  that  it  would  be  an  enterprise  worthy  of  your 
glorious  pontificate  to  set  on  foot  the  measures  necessary  for  the 
beginning  of  the  conversion  of  America.' 

"  On  retiring  he  gave  me  his  blessing,  and  repeated  in  a  loud 
voice  as  I  kneeled,   'Bravo!  Bravo!'" 

"  Pius  IX.,"  said  Father  Hecker  afterwards,  "  was  a  man  of 
the  largest  head,  of  still  larger  heart,  moved  more  by  his  impulses 
than  by  his  judgment ;  but  his  impulses  were  great,  noble,  all- 
embracing." 

It  will  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  look  more  closely  into 
Father  Hecker's  conscience  and  study  his  motives.  One  might 
ask  why  he  did  not  simply  submit  to  the  infliction  visited  upon 
him  by  his  superior  in  the  order,  and  humbly  withdraw  from 
notice  till  God  should  find  a  way  to  vindicate  him.  But  his 
case  was  not  a  personal  one.  He  was  in  Rome  representing  a 
body  of  priests  and  a  public  cause,  and  every  principle  of  duty 
and  honor  required  an  appeal  to  higher  authority.  Nor  was 
vindication  the  chief  end  in  view,  but  rather  freedom  to  follow 
the  dictates  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  accordance  with  Catholic  tra- 
ditions and  wholly  subject  to  the  laws  and  usages  of  the  Church. 
Beyond  securing  exactly  this  he  had  no  object  whatever.  On 
February   19,    1858,  he  thus  wrote    to  his  brother  George: 

"  But  there  is  no  use  of  keeping  back  anything.  My  policy 
has  all  along  been  to  have  no  policy,  but  to  be  frank,  truthful,  and 
have  no  fear.  For  my  own  part  I  will  try  my  best  to  be  true 
to  the  light  and  grace  given  me,  even  though  it  reduces  me  to 
perfect  insignificance.  I  desire  nothing  upon  earth  except  to 
labor  for  the  good  of  our  Religion  and  our  Country,  and  what- 
ever may  be  the  decision  of  our  affairs  here,  my  aims  cannot  be 
defeated.  I  feel,  indeed,  quite  indifferent  about  the  decision 
which  may  be  given,  so  that   they  allow  us  freedom." 

As  illustrating  Father  Hecker's  supernatural  motives  and  rec- 
titude of  conscience  the  following  extracts  from  letters  to  the 
Fathers  will  be  of  interest.  In  September,  when  the  arrow  was 
yet  in  the  wound,  he  wrote : 

'  I  have  no    feelings    of    resentment    against    any  one    of   the 


270  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 

actors  [in  this  matter].  On  the  contrary  I  could  embrace  them 
all  with  unfeigned  sentiments  of  love.  God  has  been  exceedingly- 
good  not  to  let    me  be  even  tempted  in  this  way." 

Again,  on  December    5  : 

"  Your  repeated  assurances  of  being  united  with  me  in  our 
future  fills  me  with  consolation  and  courage.  We  may  well  re- 
peat the  American  motto,  '  United  we  stand,  divided  we  fall.' 
Never  did  I  find  myself  more  sustained  by  the  grace  of  God. 
How  often  I  have  heard  repeated  by  acquaintances  I  have  made 
here :  '  Why,  Father  Hecker,  you  are  the  happiest  man  in 
Rome !  '  Little  do  they  know  how  many  sleepless  nights  I 
have  passed,  how  deeply  I  have  suffered  within  three  months. 
But  isn't  Almighty  God  good  ?  It  seems  I  never  knew  or 
felt  before  what  it  is    to    be  wholly    devoted  to  Him." 

On  December  9,  after  a  long  exposition  of  the  need  of  a  new 
religious  missionary  institute  for  America : 

"  Considering  our  past  training,  and  many  other  advantages 
which  we  possess,  I  cannot  but  believe  that  God  will  use  us, 
provided  that  we  remain  faithful  to  Him,  united  together  as  one 
man,  and  ready  to  make  any  sacrifice  for  some  such  holy  enter- 
prise; and  my  daily  prayer  is  that  the  Holy  Father  may  re- 
ceive a  special  grace  and  inspiration  to  welcome  and  bless  such 
a  proposition." 

With  his  Christmas  greetings  he  wrote :  "  From  the  start  I 
have  not  suffered  myself  to  repose  a  moment  when  there  was 
anything  to  be  done  which  promised  help.  Whatever  may  be 
the  result  of  our  affairs,  this  consolation  will  be  with  me — I  did 
my  utmost,  and  everything  just  and  honorable,  to  deserve  suc- 
cess. No  one  would  believe  how  much  I  have  gone  through  at 
Rome,  but  I  do  it  cheerfully,  and  sometimes  gaily,  because  I 
know   it  is  the   will  of  God." 

On  February  19,  1858:  "The  experience  I  have  made  here 
is  worth  more  than  my  weight  in  gold.  If  God  intends  to  em- 
ploy us  in  any  important  work  in  the  future,  such  an  experience 
was  absolutely  necessary  for  us.  It  is  a  novitiate  on  a  large 
scale.  I  cannot  thank  God  sufficiently  for  my  having  made  it 
thus  far  without  incurring  by  my  conduct  the  displeasure  or 
censure  of  any  one." 


Separation  from  the  Redemptorists.  27 1 


And  a  week  afterwards :  "  You  should  write  often,  for  words 
of  sympathy,  hope,  encouragement  are  much  to  me  now  in  these 
trials,  difficulties,  and  conflicts.  In  all  my  Catholic  life  I  have  not 
experienced  oppression  and  anxiety  of  mind  in  such  a  degree  as 
I  have  for  these  ten  days  past." 

March  6:  "So  far  from  my  devotion  to  religion  being  di- 
minished by  recent  events,  it  has,  thank  God,  greatly  increased; 
but  many  other  things  have  been  changed  in  me.  On  many 
new  points  my  intelligence  has  been  awakened ;  experience  has 
dispelled  much  ignorance,  and  on  the  whole  I  hope  that  my  faith 
and  heart  have  been  more  purified.  If  God  spares  my  life  to 
return,  I  hope  to  come  back  more  a  man,  a  better  Catholic, 
and  more  entirely  devoted  to  the   work  of  God." 

The  following  is  from  a  copy  of  a  letter  to  Father  de  Held 
dated  November  2  :  "  One  thing  my  trials  have  taught  me,  and 
this  is  the  one  thing  important — to  love  God  more.  It  almost 
seems  that  I  did  not    know  before  what  it  is  to  love  Him." 

When  it  became  evident  that  the  Holy  See  would  decide  the 
case  so  as  to  make  it  necessary  for  the  Fathers  to  form  a  new 
society,  Father  Hecker  did  not  accept  even  this  as  a  final  in- 
dication of  Providence  that  external  circumstances  had  made  it 
possible  for  him  to  realize  his  long-cherished  dreams  of  an 
American  apostolate ;  for  he  was  at  liberty  still  to  refuse.  He 
redoubled  his  prayers.  His  pilgrimage  to  the  shrine  of  St.  Al- 
phonsus  is  already  known  to  the  reader  ;  he  caused  a  novena  of 
Masses  to  be  said  at  the  altar  of  Our  Lady  of  Perpetual  Help 
in  the  Redemptorist  Church  in  Rome  ;  he  said  Mass  himself  at 
all  the  great  shrines,  especially  the  Confession  of  St.  Peter,  the 
altar  of  St.  Ignatius  and  that  of  St.  Philip  Neri ;  he  earnestly  en- 
treated all  his  friends,  old  ones  at  home  and  new-found  ones  in 
Rome,  to  join  with  him  in  his  prayers  for  light. 

He  furthermore  took  measures  to  obtain  the  counsel  of  wise 
and  holy  men.  Every  one  whom  he  thought  worthy  of  his 
confidence  was  asked  for  an  opinion.  Finally  he  drew  up  a 
formal  document,  known  in  this  biography  as  the  Roman 
Statement,  and  already  familiar  by  reference  and  quotation,  and 
placed  it  in  the  hands  of  the  three  religious  whose  nam^s,  in 
addition  to    those    of    Cardinal  Barnabo    and   Archbishop   Bedini, 


272  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 

appear  at  the  end  of  the  extract  we  make  from  its  original 
draft.  It  opens  with  a  summary  of  his  conversion,  entrance 
into  religion,  and  missionary  life,  and  embraces  a  full  enough 
statement  of  the  trouble  with  the  General  of  the  order — a  mat- 
ter of  notoriety  at  the  time  in  the  city  of  Rome.  He  then  de- 
scribes his  own  interior  aspirations  and  vocation  to  the  aposto- 
late  in  America,  backing  up  the  authority  of  that  inner  voice 
with  the  external  testimonials  of  prelates  and  priests  and  lay- 
men, whose  letters  had  been  procured  by  the  Propaganda  as 
evidence  in  the  case  before  the  Congregation  of  Bishops  and 
Regulars. 

"  If  God  has  called  me,"  he  continues,  "  to  such  a  work, 
His  providence  has  in  a  singular  way,  since  my  arrival  at  Rome, 
opened  the  door  for  me  to  undertake  it.  The  object  of  my 
coming  to  Rome  was  to  induce  the  General  to  sustain  and 
favor  the  extension  of  our  missionary  labors  in  the  United 
States.  It  was  undertaken  altogether  for  the  good  of  the  order, 
in  the  general  interests  of  religion,  and  in  undoubted  good 
faith.  Under  false  impressions  of  my  purpose,  my  expulsion 
from  the  Congregation  was  decreed  three  days  after  my  arrival. 
This  was  about  three  months  ago,  and  it  was  the  source  of  the 
deepest  affliction  to  me,  and  up  to  within  a  short  time  my 
greatest  desire  was  to  re-enter  the  Congregation.  At  present  it 
seems  to  me  that  these  things  were  permitted  by  Divine  Provi- 
dence in  order  to  place  me  in  the  position  to  undertake  that 
mission  which  has  never  ceased  to  occupy  my  thoughts." 

After  some  description  of  the  state  of  religion  in  America 
the  statement  concludes : 

"These  [American  non-Catholics]  require  an  institution 
which  shall  have  their  conversion  to  the  Catholic  faith  as  its 
principal  aim,  which  is  free  to  develop  itself  according  to  the 
fresh  wants  which  may  spring  up,  thus  opening  an  attractive 
future  to  the  religious  vocations  of  the  Catholic  young  men  of 
that  country. 

"  Regarding,  therefore,  my  early  and  extensive  acquaintance 
among  ray  own  people,  politically,  socially,  religiously,  with  the 
knowledge  of  their  peculiar  wants,  with  their  errors  also ;  and 
the  way  in  which  God  has  led  me  and  the  graces  given  to  me; 
and  my    interior   convictions    and    the    experience    acquired    con- 


Separation  from  the  Rcdemptorists.  273 

firming  them  since  my  Catholic  life,  and  also  my  singular  posi- 
tion at  present — the  question,  in  conclusion,  is  to  know  from 
holy,  instructed,  and  experienced  men  in  such  matters  whether 
or  not  there  is  sufficient  evidence  of  a  special  vocation  from 
God  for  me  to  undertake  now  such  a  work." 

What  follows  is  placed  at  the  bottom  of  the  last  page  of  the 

statement : 

"Epiphany,   1858,  Rome. 

"  This  document  I  had  translated  into  Italian,  and  I  gave  it 
to  Cardinal  Barnabo,  Archbishop  Bedini,  Father  Francis,  Pas- 
sionist — my  director  while  in  Rome — Father  Gregorio,  definitor, 
Carmelite,  and  Father  Druelle,  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Holy 
Cross,  and  each  gave  a  favorable  answer." 

Father  Hecker  often  said  that  he  was  fully  determined  to 
forego  the  entire  matter,  go  back  to  the  Redemptorists,  or  drift 
whithersoever  Providence  might  will,  if  a  single  one  of  the  men 
whom  he  thus  consulted  had  failed  to  approve  him,  or  had  so 
much  as  expressed  a  doubt.  He  had  inquired  who  were  the  most 
spiritually  enlightened  men  in  Rome,  and  had  been  guided  to 
the  three  religious  whom  he  had  associated  with  Cardinal  Bar- 
nabo and  Archbishop  Bedini  to  assist  him  in  coming  to  a  de- 
cision. 

The  end  came  at  last,  and  is  announced  in  a  letter  of  March 
9,    1858: 

"  The  Pope  has  spoken,  and  the  American  Fathers,  including 
myself,  are  dispensed  from  their  vows.  The  decree  is  not  in 
my  hands,  but  Cardinal  Barnabo  read  it  to  me  last  evening. 
The  General  is  not  mentioned  in  it,  and  no  attention  whatever  is 
paid  to  his  action  in  my  regard.  The  other  Fathers  are  dis- 
pensed in  view  of  the  petition  they  made,  as  the  demand  for 
separation  as  Redemptorists  would  destroy  the  unity  of  the  Con- 
gregation, and  in  the  dispensation  I  am  associated  with  them. 
The  Cardinal  [Barnabo]  is  wholly  content ;  says  that  I  must  ask 
immediately  for  an  audience  to  thank  the  Pope.  .  .  .  Now  let 
us  thank  God  for  our  success." 

On  March  11:  "  We  are  left  in  entire  liberty  to  act  in  the 
future  as  God  and  our  intelligence  shall  point  the  way.  Let  us 
be    thankful    to    God,    humble  towards  each  other  and  every  one 


274  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

else,  and  more  than  ever  in  earnest  to  do  the  work  God  de- 
mands at  our  hands.  .  .  .  The  Pope  had  before  him  all  the 
documents,  yours  and  mine  and  the  General's,  and  the  letters 
from  the  Archbishops  and  Bishops  of  the  United  States.  Arch- 
bishop Bizarri  (Secretary  of  the  Congregation  of  Bishops  and 
Regulars)  gave  him  a  verbal  report  of  their  contents  and  read 
some  of  the  letters.  Subsequently  the  Pope  himself  examined 
them  and  came  to  the  conclusion  to  grant  us  dispensation.  But 
there  was  /  in  the  way,  who  had  not  petitioned  for  a  dispensa- 
tion. And  why  not  ?  Simply  because  Cardinal  Barnabo  would 
have  been  offended  at  me  if  I  had  done  so.  ...  I  could  not 
go  against  the  wishes  of  the  cardinal.  A  few  days  after  he  had 
given  me  his  views,  and  with  such  warmth  that  I  could  not  act 
against  them,  he  saw  the  Pope,  who  informed  him  of  his  in- 
tention to  give  us  dispensation  and  to  set  aside  the  decree  of 
my  expulsion.  On  seeing  the  cardinal  after  this  audience  he 
told  me  that  I  might  communicate  this  to  Archbishop  Bizarri. 
I  did  so  by  note,  telling  him  that  if  the  Pope  set  aside  my  ex- 
pulsion and  was  determined  to  give  the  other  American  Fathers 
dispensation  from  their  vows,  in  view  of  the  circumstances  which 
had  arisen  I  would  be  content  to  accept  my  dispensation  also. 
This  note  of  mine  was  shown  to  the  Pope,  and  hence  he  imme- 
diately associated  me  with  you  in   the  dispensation. 

"  The  wording  of  the  decree  is  such  as  to  make  it  plain  that 
it  was  given  in  view  of  your  memorial,  and  its  terms  are  calcu- 
lated to  give  a  favorable  impression  of  us.  .  .  .  Archbishop 
Bizarri  told  me  yesterday,  when  I  went  to  thank  him  for  his 
part,  that  in  it  the  Holy  See  had  given  us  its  praise,  and  he 
trusted  we  would  show  ourselves  worthy  of  it  in  the  future.  I 
rejoined  that  since  the  commencement  of  our  Catholic  life  we 
had  given  ourselves  soul  and  body  entirely  to  the  increase  of 
God's  glory  and  the  interests  of  His  Church,  and  it  was  our 
firm  resolve  to  continue  to  do  so  to  the  end  of  our  lives.  He 
was  quite  gratified  with  our  contentment  with  the  decision,  for 
I  spoke,  as  I  always  have  done,  in  your  name  as  well  as  my 
own. 

"  But  whom  do  you  think  I  met  in  his  antechamber  ?  The 
General  [of  the  Redemptorists  ].  When  he  came  in  and  got  seated 
I  immediately  went  across  the  room  and  reached  out  my  hand  to 
him,  and  we  shaok  hands  and  sat  down  beside  each  other. 
.     .     .      In   the   course   of  the   conversation    he    inquired   what  we 


Separation  from  the  Redemptorists.  275 


intended  to  do  in  the  future.  My  reply  was  that  we  had 
been  guided  by  G.)d's  providence  in  the  past  and  we  looked 
to  Him  for  guidance  in  our  future.  .  .  .  As  to  my  re- 
turn [home],  the  cardinal  says  I  must  not  think  of  departing 
till  after  Easter.  Indeed,  I  see  that  before  I  can  obtain  an  au- 
dience to  thank  the  Holy  Father  it  will  be  hard  on  to  Easter. 
If  there  be  a  few  days  intervening  I  will  go  to  Our  Lady  of 
Loretto  to  invoke  her  aid  in  our  behalf,  and  for  her  protection 
over  us  as  a  body  and  over  each  one  in  particular.  In  May, 
earlier  or  later  in  the  month,  with  God's  blessing  and  your  pray- 
ers, I  hope  to  be   with  you. 

"  The  decree,  which  places  us,  according  to  the  Canons,  under 
the  authority  of  the  Bishops,  you  will,  of  course,  understand,  does 
not  in  any  way  make  us  parish  priests.  The  Pope  could  not 
tell  us  in  it  to  commence  another  congregation,  although  this  is 
what  he,  and  Cardinal  Barnabo,  and  Archbishop  Bedini,  and 
others,  expect  from  us.  He  [the  Pope]  said  that  for  him  to  tell 
us  so  [officially I  would  be  putting  the  cart  before  the  horse. 
These  are  his  words." 

On  March  18:  "It  is  customary  here,  before  giving  dispensa- 
tion of  vows  to  religious,  to  require  them  to  show  their  admission 
into  a  diocese.  As  this  was  not  required  in  our  case,  we  are  con- 
sequently at  liberty  now  to  choose  any  bishop  we  please  who  will 
receive  us.  '  Choose  your  bishop,  inform  him  of  your  inten- 
tions, and  if  he  approves,  arrange  your  conditions  with  him.' 
These  are  the  cardinal's  words,  and  both  he  and  Archbishop 
Bedini  suggested  New  York.  .  .  .  My  trip  to  Loretto  has 
come  to  naught,  as  I  can  find  no  one  to  accompany  me,  and 
then  my  health,  I  fear,  will  not  bear  so  much  fatigue.  I  shall 
come  back  with  some  gray  hairs  ;  I  thought  to  pull  them  all  out 
before  my  return,  but  on  looking  this  morning  with  that  inten- 
tion I  found  them  too  many.  However,  that  is  only  on  the  out- 
side ;  within  all  is  right — young,  fresh,  and  full  of  courage,  and 
ready  to  fight  the  good  fight.'  " 

The  following  is  a  memorandum  of  his  second  audience  with 
Pius  IX.: 

"  Yesterday,  the  16th  of  March,  the  Pope  accorded  me  an 
audience,  and  on  my  entering  his  room  he  repeated  my  name, 
gave  me  his  blessing,  and  after  I  had  kissed  his  ring  he  told  me 


276  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


to  rise,   and  said  :    'At  length    your    affairs    are  determined.     We 
have    many  causes    to    decide,    and    each    must    have    its    turn ; 
yours    came  finally,   and    now    you    have    our    decision.'      '  True,' 
I    replied,    '  and    your    decision    gives    me    great  satisfaction,  and 
it  appears  to  me  that  it  should  be  satisfactory  to  all  concerned.' 
'  I  found  you,'  he    rejoined,   '  like  Abraham  and    Lot,  and  (mak- 
ing a  motion  with  his  hand)  I    told  one  to    take    this,  the  other 
that  direction.'     'For  my  part,'   I   said,  'I    look  upon  the  decision 
as  providential,  as  I  sought  no  personal  triumph  over  the  General, 
but   entertain  every  sentiment  of  charity  towards  him,   and  every 
one  of  my  former  religious  brethren.'     This    remark  appeared    to 
move  the  Pope,  and   I    continued  :     '  I  thought  of   your  Holiness' 
decision  in  the  holy  Mass  of  this  morning,   when    in  the    Gospel 
our  Lord  reminds  us  not  to  decide  according  to  the  appearances 
of  things,  but  render  a  just  judgment;   and  such  is   the  one  you 
have  given,  and  for  our    part  we    trust    that    you  will  receive  in 
the  future    consolation    and    joy    [from    our    conduct].'     '  As  you 
petitioned,'  he  said,  '  with  the  other  Fathers  as  one  of  the  Con- 
gregation, in  giving   you    dispensation  I    considered  you  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Congregation.'     'So  I    understood  it,'  was    my  reply; 
'  and  as  a    [private]  person    I    felt    no    inclination  to  defend    my 
character,  but  as  a  priest    I    felt  it  to    be  my  duty  ;    and  in  this 
regard  your  Holiness    has    done  all  that    I    have  desired.'      '  But 
you   intend    to    remain,'  he    inquired,   '  together    in    community  ?  ' 
'  Most    assuredly,  your    Holiness ;    our    intention    is    to    live   and 
work  as  we  have  hitherto  done.       But  there  are    many  [spiritual] 
privileges  attached  to  the  work  of  the  missions  very  necessary  to 
their  success,  and  which  we  would  gladly  participate  in.'     'Well, 
well,'  he  answered,  '  organize,  begin  your  work,  and  then  demand 
them,  and  I  will  grant  them  to    you.     The  Americans,  however, 
'are    very    much    engrossed    in    material    pursuits.'     'True,     Holy 
Father,'  I    replied,  'but  the  faith  is  there.     We    five  missionaries 
are  Americans,  and  were  like  the  others,  but    you  see  the  grace 
of  God  has  withdrawn    us    from  these    things  and  moved  us   to 
consecrate    ourselves    wholly    to    God    and    His    Church,  and  we 
hope  it  will    do    the    same    for   many   of    our  countrymen.      And 
once  our  countrymen  arc    Catholics,  we  hope  they  will  do  great 
things  for  God's  Church  and    His   glory,  for    they  have    enthusi- 
asm '      '  Yes,  yes,'  he  rejoined,   '  it  would    be  a   great  consolation 
to  me.'     I  asked  him  if  he  would  grant  me  a  plenary  indulgence 
for  my  brethren    and    my  friends  in  the    United    States.     'Well,' 


Separation  from  the  Rcdcmptorists.  277 


he  said,  '  but  I  must  have  a  rescript.'  '  I  have  one  with  me 
which  perhaps  will  do,'  I  answered.  Looking  over  it,  he  made 
some  alterations  and  signed  it.  I  knelt  down  at  his  feet  and 
begged  him  to  give  me  a  large  blessing  before  my  departure, 
in  order  that  I  might  become  a  great  missionary  in  the  United 
States — which  he  gave  me  most  cordially,  and  I  retired. 

"  His  manner  was  very  affectionate,  and  in  the  course  of  the 
conversation  he  called  me  '  caro  mio1  and  '  figlio  mio '  several 
times.  We  could  not  desire  to  leave  a  more  favorable  impres- 
sion than  exists  here  in  regard  to  us  and  our  part  in  the  recent 
transaction,  and  we  have  the  sympathy  of  the  Pope  and  the 
Propaganda.  Rome  will  withhold  nothing  from  us  if  we  prove 
worthy  of  its  confidence,  and  will  hail  our  success  with  true 
joy.  I  look  upon  this  settlement  of  our  difficulties  as  the  work 
of  Divine  Providence,  and  my  prayer  is  that  it  may  make  me 
humble,  modest,  and  renew  my  desire  to  consecrate  myself 
wholly  to  God's  designs." 

He  writes  to  the  Fathers,  March  2j :  "The  seven  months 
passed  here  in  Rome  seem  to  me  an  age  ;  and  have  taxed  me 
to  that  extent  that  I  look  forward  to  home  as  a  place  of  rest 
and  repose.  When  I  think  of  the  fears,  anxieties,  and  labors  un- 
dergone I  say  to  myself — enough  for  this  time.  On  the  other 
hand,  when  I  remember  the  warm  and  disinterested  friends 
God  has  given  us  on  account  of  these  difficulties,  and  the  happy 
issue  to  which  His  providence  has  conducted  them,  my  heart  is 
full  of  gratitude  and  joy.  To  me  the  future  looks  bright,  hope- 
ful, full  of  promise,  and  I  feel  confident  in  God's  providence, 
and  assured  of  His  grace  in  our  regard.  I  feel  like  raising  up 
the  cross  as  our  standard  and  adopting  one  word  as  our  motto 
— Conquer ! 

"  I  have  just  received  the  documents  for  you  to  give  the 
Papal  benediction  at  the  missions,  and  will  send  them.  A  letter 
reached  here  this  week  from  the  Bishop  of  Burlington,  Vt,  and 
it  is  strongly  in  our  favor  ;  it  concludes  by  saying  that  all  that 
we  required  to  make  us  a  religious  Congregation  was  the  special 
blessing  of  the    Holy    Father." 

Again,  on  April  3  :  "  Monsignor  Bedini  asked  of  the  Pope  the 
special  benediction  that  Bishop  De  Goesbriand  suggested,  and  he 
replied :  '  Did  I  not  give  it  to  Pere  Hecker,  and  through  him  to 
his    brethren,  when    he  was    here  ?  '     '  But,'  answered  Monsignor 


278  The  Life  of  Father  Heckcr. 

Bedini,  '  give  them  this  benediction  this  time  on  the  request  of 
the  bishop.'  And  he  answered  :  '  It  is  well ;  I  do.'  So  there  is 
a  special  blessing  from  the  Holy  Father  in  view  of  our  forming 
a  religious  body.  Indeed,  that  is  so  well  understood  here  that 
several  have  inquired  what  name  we  intend  to  adopt,  etc.  Of 
course  to  all  such  questions  my  answer  is  :  'I  can  say  nothing  ; 
the  future  is  in  God's  hands,  and  we  intend  to  follow  His  provi- 
dence.'    . 

"  Good  Cardinal  Barnabo  looks  upon  us  with  a  paternal  re- 
gard, and  when  I  expressed  in  your  name  how  warmly  we  re- 
turned his  affection,  and  what  a  deep  gratitude  we  owed  him,  he 
was  deeply  moved,  and  replied  that  he  did  not  deserve  such  sen- 
timents, and  that  he  had  only  done  justice.  Since  the  settlement 
of  our  affairs  I  have  let  no  occasion  pass  to  express  our  grati- 
tude to  those  who  have  befriended  us  ;  and  as  for  Cardinal  Bar- 
nabo, Monsignor  Bedini,  Bishop  Connolly,  and  Doctor  Bernard 
Smith,  Benedictine  monk,  they  should  be  put  at  the  head  of  the 
list  of  our  spiritual  benefactors  and  remembered  in  all  our  pray- 
ers. Now  that  we  are  a  body,  I  would  advise  this  to  be  done 
at  once.     The  Holy  Father  stands   No.    1  ;  that  is  understood. 

"  How  much  I  have  to  relate  to  you  on  my  return  !  Many 
things  I  did  not  venture  to  write  down  on  paper,  and  many  I 
can  communicate  to  no  one  else  but  you.  How  great  is  my 
desire  to  see  you  ! — it  seems  that  I   have  no  other. 

"  I  have  taken  passage  for  Marseilles  on  Tuesday  after  Eas- 
ter, the  6th  of  April,  and  intend  to  take  passage  on  the 
Vandcrbilt,  which  leaves  Havre  on  the  28th.  ...  I  saw  the 
General  on  Tuesday  of  this  week,  to  take  leave  of  him.  After 
some  conversation  we  left  in  good  feeling,  promising  to  pray  pro 
invicem.     God  bless  him  !  " 

Before  leaving  Paris  Father  Hecker  received  extremely  affec- 
tionate letters  of  congratulation  from  his  old  friends,  Fathers  de 
Held  and  de  Buggenoms. 

The  following  is  the  decree  of  the  Congregation  of  Bishops 
and   Regulars  :  * 

*Nuper  nonnulli  ex  Presbyteris  Congregationis  SSmi  Redemptoris  in  provinciis  Americae 
Septentrionalis  fcederatis  existtntibus  Sbmum  D.  N,  Pium  PP.  IX.  supplici  prece  depreca- 
bantur,  ut  eis  ob  speciales  circumstantias  concederet  ab  auctoritate  et  jurisdictione  Rectoris 
Majoris  subtrahi,  ac  a  proprio  Superiore  Apostolicne  Sedi  immediate  subjecto  juxta  regulam 
a  Benedicto  XIV.,  sanctse  memoriee,  approbatam  gubernari.  Quod  si  id  eis  datum  non  esset, 
dispensationem  a  votis  in  dicta  Congregatione  emissis,  humillime  expostulabant.  Re  sedulo 
perpensa,  Sanctitas  Sua  existimavit  hujusmodi  separationem  unitati  Congregationis  officere, 


Separation  from  the  Redemptorists.  279 


"  Certain  priests  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Most  Holy  Re- 
deemer in  the  United  States  of  North  America  recently  pre- 
sented their  most  humble  petition  to  our  Most  Holy  Lord  Pope 
Pius  IX.,  that  in  view  of  certain  special  reasons  he  would  grant  that 
they  might  be  withdrawn  from  the  authority  and  jurisdiction  of 
the  Rector  Major  and  be  governed  by  a  superior  of  their  own, 
immediately  subject  to  the  Apostolic  Set-,  and  according  to  the 
[Redcmptorist]  Rule  approved  by  Benedict  XIV.,  of  holy  memory. 
If,  however,  this  should  not  be  granted  to  them,  they  most  hum- 
bly asked  for  dispensation  from  their  vows  in  the  said  Congrega- 
tion. After  having  carefully  considered  the  matter,  it  appeared 
to  his  Holiness  that  a  separation  of  this  kind  would  be  prejudi- 
cial to  the  unity  of  the  Congregation  and  by  no  means  accord 
with  the  Institute  of  St.  Alphonsus,  and  therefore  should  not  be 
permitted.  Since,  however,  it  was  represented  to  his  Holiness 
that  the  petitioners  spare  no  labor  in  the  prosecution  of  the  holy 
missions,  in  the  conversion  of  souls,  and  in  the  dissemination  of 
Christian  doctrine,  and  are  for  this  reason  commended  by  many 
bishops,  it  seemed  more  expedient  to  his  Holiness  to  withdraw 
them  from  the  said  Congregation,  that  they  might  apply  them- 
selves to  the  prosecution  of  the  works  of  the  sacred  ministry  un- 
der the  direction  of  the  local  bishops.  Wherefore  his  Holiness 
by  the  tenor  of  this  decree,  and  by  his  Apostolic  authority,  does 
dispense  from  their  simple  vows  and  from  that  of  permanence 
in  the  Congregation  the  said  priests,  viz.:  Clarence  Walworth, 
Augustine  Hewit,  George  Deshon,  and  Francis  Baker,  together 
with  the  priest  Isaac  Hecker,  who  has  joined  himself  to  their  pe- 
tition in  respect  to  dispensation  from  the  vows,  and  declares 
them  to  be  dispensed  and  entirely  released,  so  that  they  no 
longer  belong  to  the  said  Congregation.  And  his  Holiness  con- 
fidently trusts  that  under  the  direction  and  jurisdiction  of  the  lo- 

et  S.  Alphonsi  instituto  minime  respondere  ideoque  haud  permittendum  esse.  Cum  autem  rc- 
latum  sit  oratores  nulli  labori  parcere  in  sacris  expeditionibus  peragendis,  et  in  proximorum 
conversione,  Christianaque  institutione  curanda,  et  idcirco  a  pluribus  Antistibus  commenden- 
tur,  visum  est  SSmo  Domino  magis  expedire  eos  a  praefata  Congregatione  eximi,  ut  in  sacri 
ministerii  opera  promovenda  sub  directione  Antistitum  locorum  incumbere  possint.  Quaprop- 
ter  Sanciitas  Sua  presbyteros  Ciarentium  Walworth,  Augustinum  Hewit,  Georgium  Deshon, 
et  Franciscum  Baker,  una  cum  presbytero  Isaac  Hecker,  qui  corumdem  postulationibus  quoad 
dispensationem  a  votis  adhaisit,  a  votis  simplicibus,  etiam  permanentias  in  Congregatione  SSmi 
Redemptoris  emissis,  hujus  Decreti  tenore,  Apostolica  auctoritate  dispensat,  et  dispensatos,  ac 
prorsus  solutos  esse  declarat,  ita  ut  ad  eamdem  Congregationem  amplius  non  pertineant. 
Confidit  vero  Sanctitas  Sua  memoratos  Presbyteros,  qua  opere,  qua  exemplo,  qua  sermone,  in 
vinea  Domini  sub  directione  et  jurisdictione  Antistitum  locorum,  ad  praiscriptum  SS.  Ca- 
nonum  adlaboraturos,  ut  a'tcrnam  animarum  salutem  alacriter  curent,  atque  proximorum  sanc- 
tificationem  pro  viribus  promoveant. 

Datum  Romre,  ex  Secretaria  Sacras  Congregations  Episcoporum  et  Regularium, 
Die  6  Martii,  1858. 

[l.  +  s.]  G.  Card.  DELLA  Genoa,  Praf. 

A.,  Arciuei'Iscopus  PHILIPPKN,  Sec. 


2  80 


The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


cal  bishops,  according  to  the  prescription  of  the  sacred  Canons, 
the  above-mentioned  priests  will  labor  by  work,  example,  and 
word  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord,  and  give  themselves  with  alac- 
rity to  the  eternal  salvation  of  souls,  and  promote  with  all  their 
power  the  sanctification  of  their  neighbor. 

"  Given  at  Rome,  in  the  office  of  the  Sacred  Congre- 
gation of  Bishops  and  Regulars,  the  6th  day  of 
March,    1858. 

[l.  s]  G.  Cardinal  della  Genga,  Prefect. 

"  A.,  Archbishop  of  Philippi,  Secretary."' 

NOTE. — I  wish  to  add  to  this,  that  the  relations  between  the 
Redemptorists  and  Paulists  are,  and  I  trust  will  continue  to  be, 
most  amicable. 

AUG.  F.   Hewit,  C.S.P.,  Superior. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

BEGINNINGS   OF   THE    PAULIST    COMMUNITY. 

DURING  the  seven  months  of  Father  Hecker's  stay  in  Rome 
the  band  of  American  missionaries  were  busily  occupied. 
Missions  were  given  in  the  following  order  :  Newark,  N.  J.;  Pough- 
keepsie,  Cold  Spring  on  the  Hudson,  and  Utica,  N.  Y.;  Brandy- 
wine,  Del.;  Trenton,  N.  J.;  Burlington,  Brandon,  East  and  West 
Rutland,  Vt,  and  Plattsburgh,  Saratoga,  and  Little  Falls,  N.  Y. 
All  these  labors  were  undertaken  subject  to  the  authority  of  the 
Redemptorist  Provincial  and  in  a  spirit  of  entire  obedience.  The 
mission  at  Little  Falls  closed  on  Palm  Sunday,  March  28,  and 
the  missionaries,  with  the  exception  of  Father  Baker,  who  was 
sent  to  Annapolis,  Md.,  returned  to  the  Redemptorist  house  in 
Third  Street,  New  York.  On  the  Tuesday  after  Easter,  April 
6,  1858,  the  official  copy  of  the  Pope's  decision  reached  them, 
and  they  bade  farewell  to  their  Redemptorist  brethren  and  to 
the  community  in  which  they  had  spent  so  many  happy  years, 
and  witnessed,  as  Father  Hewit  has  written,  "  so  many  edifying 
examples  of  high  virtue  and  devoted  zeal,  to  enter  upon  a  new 
and  untried  undertaking." 

Archbishop  Kenrick,  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  this,  made  a  de- 
termined effort  to  secure  Father  Baker  for  the  diocese  of  Balti- 
more, but  the  latter  never  for  a  moment  faltered  in  his  purpose 
to  cast  his  lot  with  his  brethren,  and  the  archbishop  gave  up 
his  claim  upon  him  at  the  request  of  Cardinal  Barnabo. 

Their  engagements  called  for  two  more  missions  before  the 
season  ended — one  at  Watertown,  N.  Y.,  and  the  other  at  St. 
Bridget's  Church,  New  York  City.  The  first  of  these  opened  on 
the  1 8th  of  April,  and  while  waiting  for  that  date  the  Fathers 
lived  with  Mr.  George  Hecker  in  Rutger's  Place,  saying  Mass  in 
his  private  chapel  and  following  their  religious  rule  as  far  as  cir- 
cumstances allowed,  continuing  meantime  to  obey  Father  Wal- 
worth, their  former  superior  of  the  missions.  They  journeyed  to 
Watertown,  fearful  lest  the  faculties  for  giving  the  Papal  blessing 
and  the  mission  indulgences  should  not  arrive  there  in  time. 
But  late  on  Saturday  night,  April  17,  they  were  received,  much 
to    the  joy  of  the  Fathers. 

Here  occurred  a  noteworthy  coincidence.  Watertown  was  at 
that   time   in   the  diocese   of  Albany,  of  which  Bishop  McCloskey 


282  The  Life  of  Father  Heckcr. 


was  then  the  ordinary.  He  had  received  Father  Hecker  into 
the  Church  and  had  been  his  first  guide  in  the  spiritual  life,  and 
now  he  was  the  first  to  publicly  welcome  his  brethren  at  the  be- 
ginning of  their  new  career.  The  following  is  from  a  letter  of 
his  to  Father  Walworth  in  answer  to  one  announcing  the  recent 
changes: 


ifc>* 


"  I  am  happy  to  hear  that  your  difficulties  have  at  length  re- 
ceived their  solution,  and  in  a  manner,  I  presume,  as  satisfactory 
as  you  could  well  expect.  The  future  must  now  in  great  meas- 
ure depend  upon  yourselves.  You  will,  of  course,  have  difficulties 
to  surmount  and  prejudices  to  encounter,  but  I  trust  that  with 
God's  blessing  your  new  community  when  once  organized  will 
continue  from  day  to  day  to  gain  increased  stability  and  strength, 
and  be  enabled  to  carry  out  successfully  all  its  laudable  aims  for 
the  good  of  our  holy  religion.  The  faculties  already  given  you 
in  this  diocese  you  will  not  consider  as  being  withdrawn  by  the 
act  of  your  separation  from  the  Redemptorist  order,  and  there  is 
nothing  that  I  know  of  to  interfere  with  your  proposed  mission 
in  Watertown." 

During  the  mission  at  St.  Bridget's — that  is,  in  the  first  half 
of  the  month  of  May — Father  Hecker  arrived  in  New  York  and 
measures  were  at  once  taken  for  the  practical  organization  of  the 
new  community.  Nothing  was  done  hurriedly ;  a  fair  and  full 
consideration  of  all  questions  from  every  point  of  view,  which  lasted 
until  early  in  the  month  of  July,  enabled  each  one  clearly  to  un- 
derstand his  new  relation  in  its  every  aspect.  Father  Walworth 
not  being  entirely  in  agree. nent  with  the  others,  withdrew  to  the 
diocese  of  Albany  and  took  charge  of  a  parish  ;  he  returned  again 
in  1 86 1,  remaining  with  the  community  till  1865,  when  his  health 
becoming  quite  shattered,  he  reluctantly  decided  to  withdraw  al- 
together. It  need  hardly  be  said  that  the  relations  between  him 
and  the  community  have  always  been  most  cordial.  Meantime 
the  others,  Fathers  Hecker,  Hewit,  Deshon,  and  Baker,  organized 
by  electing  the  first- named  the  Superior,  and  drew  up  and  signed 
what  was  termed  a  Programme  of  Rule.  This  was  submitted  to 
Archbishop  Hughes  and  by  him  approved  and  signed  on  July  7, 
1858.  The  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  was  chosen  as  patron,  and  the 
name  selected  was,  The  Missionary  Priests  of  St.  Paul  the  Apos- 
tle, which  has  been  popularized  into  Paulists.  The  habit  agreed 
upon  was  in  form  somewhat  like  that  of  the  students  of  the 
Propaganda    in    Rome,    black    throughout,    with    a  narrow    linen 


Beginnings  of  the  Paulist  Community.  283 

collar  and  buttoned  across  the  breast,  being  held  at  the  waist  by 
a  cincture. 

The  Programme  of  Rule  adopts  an  order  of  spiritual  exer- 
cises similar  to  that  observed  by  the  Fathers  while  Redemptor- 
ists.  A  perpetual  voluntary  agreement  takes  the  place  of  the  vows 
as  the  security  of  stability,  the  members  affirming  that  they 
are  fully  determined  to  promote  their  sanctification  by  leading 
a  life  in  all  essential  respects  similar  to  that  led  in  the  religious 
orders.  Besides  the  chastity  imposed  upon  them  by  the  priesthood 
the  other  evangelical  counsels  of  obedience  and  poverty  are  adopted 
and  their  observance  enjoined  upon  the  members,  together  with 
the  daily  and  periodical  exercises  of  community  life.  As  to  the 
external  vocation,  the  missions  are  named  as  the  basis  of  gen- 
eral apostolic  labors,  and  parish  work  also,  though  in  a  subor- 
dinate degree.  The  entire  document  looks  forward  to  a  com- 
plete Rule  to  be  drawn  up  and  submitted  to  the  Holy  See 
at  a  future  day,  for  which  it  actually  furnished  the  outlines 
some  twenty  years  afterwards.  The  approval  of  the  Programme 
of  a  Rule  by  the  Archbishop  of  New  York  gave  the  Fathers  the 
canonical  status  anticipated  by  the  decree  Nuper  nonnulli.  This 
was  confirmed  by  an  official  permission  of  the  Holy  See  to  the 
Archbishop  of  New  York  to  establish  the  Paulist  Institute  in  his 
diocese,  with  the  consent  of  his  suffragans,  which  was  asked  for 
and  obtained. 

A  little  more  than  a  fortnight  after  these  events  Father 
Hecker  wrote  as  follows  to  a  friend  : 

"Before  leaving  Rome  our  Holy  Father  Pius  IX.  gave  us 
his  special  blessing  for  the  commencement  of  our  new  organiza- 
tion, promised  us  any  privileges  we  might  need  to  carry  on  our 
missionary  labors,  and  held  out  the  hope  of  his  sanction,  in 
proper  time,  of  the  rules  which  we  might  make.  In  my  last 
visit  to  his  Eminence  Cardinal  Barnabo  he  gave  me  advice  how 
to  organize,  what  steps  were  to  be  taken  from  time  to  time, 
and  expressed  a  most  lively  interest  in  our  undertaking.  The 
same  did  Monsignor  Bedini.  On  my  return  we  organized  as 
advised,  wrote  out  an  outline  of  our  new  institution  and  sub- 
mitted it  to  the  ordinary  of  this  diocese,  the  initiatory  step  of 
all  such  undertakings.  He  gave  it  his  cordial  approbation,  and 
said  that  he  tound  no  word  to  alter,  to  add,  or  improve.  Thus 
we  are  so  lar  regularly  canonically  instituted. 


284  The  Life  of  Father  Heckcr. 


"  Our  aim  is  to  lead  a  strict  religious  life  in  community, 
starting  with  the  voluntary  principle ;  leaving  the  question  of 
vows  to  further  experience,  counsel,  and  indications  of  Divine 
Providence.  Our  principal  work  is  the  missions,  such  as  we 
have  hitherto  given,  but  we  are  not  excluded  from  other  apos- 
tolic labors  as  the  wants  of  the  Church  may  demand  or  develop. 
.  .  We  begin  early  this  fall  our  campaign  of  missions,  and 
we  never  had  before  us  so  fine  a  list.  One  thing  I  may  say, 
and  I  trust  without  boasting,  we  are  of  one  mind  and  heart, 
resolved  to  labor  and  die  for  Jesus  Christ,  for  the  good  of  His 
holy  Church,  for  the  advancement  of  the  Catholic  faith.  We 
have  the  encouragement  of  a  number  of  bishops,  and  also,  we 
trust,  the  prayers,  sympathy,  and  assistance  of  the  faithful.  We 
shall  have  to  face  obstacles,  opposition  from  friends  and  foes  ; 
but  if  we  are  the  right  kind  of  men  and  have  the  virtues  which 
such  a  position  as  ours  demands,  our  trials  will  only  strengthen 
us  and  make  us  the  better  Christians.  Every  good  work  must 
expect  opposition  from  pious  men,  and  our  minds  are  made  up 
to  that." 

After  St.  Bridget's  mission  the  little  community  found  it- 
self homeless,  and  it  remained  so  till  the  spring  of  the  year 
1859.  But  during  part  of  this  period  Mr.  George  Hecker, 
taking  his  family  to  the  country,  gave  up  his  whole  house  to 
the  Fathers,  servants  and  all,  making  provision  for  the  supply 
of  every  want  in  the  most  generous  manner.  For  the  greater 
portion  of  the  time,  however,  especially  between  missions  in 
the  winter  and  spring  of  1858-9,  the  Fathers  depended  for 
temporary  shelter  upon  the  hospitality  of  friends  among  the 
clergy  and  laity,  even  lodging  for  a  short  while  in  a  respect- 
able boarding-house  in  Thirteenth  street,  at  a  convenient  dis- 
tance from  several  churches  and  chapels  where  Mass  could  be 
said  daily. 

But  in  the  spring  of  1858  arrangements  had  been  made  with 
Archbishop  Hughes  for  establishing  a  house  and  parish  in  New 
York.  The  present  site  of  St.  Paul's  Church  and  convent,  then 
in  the  midst  of  a  suburban  wilderness,  was  chosen,  and,  by  dint 
of  hasty  collections  from  private  friends  and  with  the  help  of  a 
very  large  gift  from  Mr.  George  Hecker,  money  enough  was 
paid  down  to  obtain  the  deeds.  Sixtieth  Street  was  not  quite 
opened  at  the  time,  and  this  part  of  Ninth  Avenue  existed  only 


Beginnings  of  the  Paulist   Community.  285 


on  paper;   but  by  energetic  efforts  made  by  all  the  Fathers  and 
their  friends,  and    by  personal    appeals    in    every   direction,  espe- 
cially   in  the  down-town  parishes  in    which    they  had  given  mis- 
sions, sufficient  funds  were    raised     to    clear    the    ground  and    lay 
the   foundations  of   a    building  which    was    to    include    both    con- 
vent and  church.     Early  in  the  summer  of    1858  circulars  asking 
assistance  had  been  sent  out  to  the  clergy  of  the  United  States, 
and    by  this  means  also  a  considerable    amount  was    secured,  the 
very  first  answer  with  a  handsome  donation    coming  from  Father 
Early,   President  of  Georgetown    College.     In  the  spring  of  1859 
the  Fathers  rented  a  frame  house  on  Sixtieth  Street,  just  west  of 
Broadway,    fitted    up    a    little    chapel    in    it,    and    lived    there    in 
community  till  the  new  house  was    finished. 

The  corner-stone  of  the  new  structure  was  laid  by  Archbishop 
Hughes  on  Trinity  Sunday,  June   19,    1859,    in    the    presence    of 
an    immense    concourse  of    people.     During  that  summer  and  fall 
every  effort  was    made    to    keep  the    builders  at  work.     The  task 
was  no  easy  one.     The  times  were  hard,  the    country  still  suffer- 
ing   from  the  effects  of   the  financial  crisis  of    1857,  the  financial 
depression  being  aggravated  by   the  ominous  outlook  in  the  poli- 
tical world.     But  the  house  was  finally  completed,  and  was  blessed 
by  Father    Hecker    on    the    24th    of   November,    the  feast  of  St. 
John  of  the  Cross,     one    of    his    very    special    patrons.     This  was 
■within  a  few  weeks  of  his  fortieth  birthday.      On  the    27th  of  the 
same  month,  the  first  Sunday  of  Advent,  the   chapel  was  blessed 
and  Solemn  Mass  was    celebrated    in    it.     Thereafter    the  Fathers 
had    to    act    as    parish    priests    as    well    as    missionaries.     A    few 
weeks  before  this    the    fi-rst    recruit  joined    the    little  band  in  the 
person    of     Father    Robert     Beverly    Tillotson,    a    convert,     who, 
though  an  American,  had  been  for  some  time  a    member  of  Dr. 
Newman's  Oratory.       He  was    a    charming  preacher  and  a  noble 
character,  much    beloved    by    all    the    fathers,    and    especially  by 
Father  Hecker.     He  died,    deeply    mourned,  in    the    summer    of 
1868,  having  given  the  community  nine    years    of    most  valuable 
service.      He  came  just  in  time  to    set    free    three  of   the  Fathers 
for  missionary    duty,    the    other    two    remaining    in    care    of    the 
parish.     This    was    at    first    small    enough  in  numbers,  though  in 
territory  it  reached  from    Fifty-second    Street  to  very  near  Man- 
hattanville.     The  accession  of  Father  Alfred  Young,  of  the   diocese 
of  Newark,    and    the    return    of    Father    Walworth    considerably 
relieved  the  pressure,  though  the  rapid  growth  of  the  parish  and 


286  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

the    widening    scope    of   the  community's    labors    kept  every  one 
busy  enough. 

The  newly-founded  Paulist  community  was  heartily  welcomed 
by  both  clergy  and  people.  Missions  were  given  in  various  parts 
of  the  country,  applications  being  often  declined  for  want  of  time 
and  missionaries.  Several  prelates,  among  whom  were  the  Arch- 
bishops of  Baltimore  and  Cincinnati,  wrote  to  Father  Hecker  offer- 
ing to  establish  the  community  in  their  dioceses  ;  Bishop  Bayley, 
of  Newark,  also  wished  to  secure  the  Fathers,  and  he  was  espe- 
cially urgent  in  his  request.  One  has  but  to  know  the  intensely 
conservative  spirit  of  the  Catholic  hierarchy  and  clergy  to  appre- 
ciate how  stainless  must  have  been  the  record  of  the  Fathers  to 
elicit  such  testimonials  of  good- will  just  after  they  had  fought  a 
hard  battle  on  the  ground  of  authority  and  obedience.  As  to  the 
Catholic  laity,  the  following  extract  from  a  letter  of  the  poet 
George  H.  Miles,  whose  early  death  some  years  after  was  so 
deeply  lamented,  shows  how  they  regarded  the  new  community. 
It  was  written  from  Baltimore  under  date  of  August   13,    1858  : 

"  My  very  dear  Father  Hecker  :  .  .  .  Since  we  last 
parted  you  have  been  to  me  one  of  those  grand,  good  memories  we 
take  to  heart  and  cherish.  I  have  loved  you  better  than  you  could 
believe,  for  I  felt  that  in  the  extremity  of  sorrow  or  temptation 
you  were  the  man  and  the  priest  I  would  have  recourse  to,  could 
my  own  wish  be  granted.  You  are  not  wrong  in  considering  me  a 
friend ;  that  is,  if  much  love  may  atone  for  little  power  to  befriend. 

.  .  Providcjitially,  it  now  appears,  you  men  have  always  had 
an  individual  force  that  detached  you  completely  from  your  con- 
freres. To  me  and  to  the  multitudes  you  were  never  Redemp- 
torists,  never  Liguorians,  but  Hecker,  Walworth,  Hewit,  Deshon, 
Baker.  I  mean  to  utter  nothing  disrespectful  to  the  society  which 
has  blessed  this  nation  in  training  and  developing  you  and  your 
new  body  of  preachers,  but  I  maintain  that  you  stood  so  completely 
apart  from   that  society,  so  absolutely  individualized,  that,  etc." 

The  three  years  following  Father  Hecker's  return  from 
Rome  were  exceedingly  active  ones.  The  missions  were  main- 
tained, money  collected  for  the  purchase  of  the  property  and 
the  building  of  the  convent  at  the  corner  of  Fifty-ninth  Street 
and  Ninth  Avenue,  and,  after  the  opening  of  the  new  church 
in  November,  1859,  tne  regular  duties  of  a  city  parish  were 
added. 

"  I  am  hard  at    work,"  writes    Father  Hecker  to    a  friend,    in 


Beginnings  of  the  Paulist  Community,  287 

the  very  midst  of  these  labors,  "  in  soliciting  subscriptions  for 
our  convent  and  temporary  church.  I  have  worked  hard  in  my 
life,  but  this  is  about  the  hardest.  However,  it  goes.  I  had, 
a  couple  of  weeks  ago,  a  donation  of  $200  from  a  Protestant. 
Yesterday  a  subscription  of  $50  from  another.  Sursum  Con/a 
and  go  ahead,  is  my  cry !  "  And,  indeed,  he  was  full  of  cour- 
age and  confidence  in  the  future,  all  his  letters  breathing  a 
cheerful  spirit. 

Before  giving  Father  Hecker's  principles  for  community  life, 
which  we  will  do  in  the  next  chapter,  it  may  be  well  to  say  a 
few  words  more  about  the  attitude  in  which  he  and  his  com- 
panions had  been  placed,  by  the  action  of  the  Holy  See,  toward 
the  Catholic  idea   of    authority. 

Just  as  he  was  about  to  sail  for  America  he  wrote  to  his 
brother  George:  "I  return  from  Rome  with  my  enthusiasm  un- 
chilled  and  my  resolution  to  labor  for  the  conversion  of  our 
people  intensified  and  strengthened.  I  feel  that  the  knowledge 
and  experience  which  I  have  acquired  are  most  necessary  for  the 
American  Fathers  in  their  present  delicate  position."  And  in 
truth  his  stay  in  Rome  had  prepared  him  for  the  new  respon- 
sibilities in  store  for  him.  His  sufferings  there  had  purified  his 
motives,  his  humiliations  and  his  anguish  had  taught  him  the 
need  of  reliance,  total  and  loving,  on  Divine  Providence.  He 
had  studied  authority  in  its  chief  seat,  and  he  had  done  so  with 
the  depth  of  impression  which  a  man  on  trial  for  his  life  expe- 
riences of  the  power  of  the  advocates  and  the  dignity  of  the 
judges.  The  result  of  that  trial  was  of  infinite  benefit.  The  test 
of  genuine  liberty  is  its  consonance  with  lawful  authority,  and  in 
Father  Hecker's  case  the  newest  liberty  had  been  roughly  ar- 
raigned before  the  most  venerable  authority  known  among  men, 
tried  by  fire,  and  sent  forth  with  Rome's  broad  seal  of  ap- 
proval. 

Without  doubt  the  chief  endeavor  of  authority  should  be  to 
win  the  allegiance  of  free  and  aspiring  spirits ;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  no  one  should  be  so  firmly  convinced  of  the  rights  of 
the  external  Older  of  God  as  the  man  who  is  called  to  minister 
to  the  aspirations   01  human   liberty. 

No  man  ought  to  be  so  vividly  conscious  of  the  prerogatives 
of  authority  as  he  who  lays  claim  to  a  vocation  to  extol  the 
worth  of  liberty.  It  was,  therefore,  fitting  that  Father  Hecker 
should  learn  his  lesson   of  the  prerogatives  of  the    visible    Church 


288  TJic  Life  of  Father  Heckcr. 

from  that  teacher  who  has  no  master  anion"  men.  At  the  same 
time  Rome  sent  forth  in  the  person  of  Father  Hecker  a  living 
and  oowerful  argument  addressed  to  this  Republic,  that  the 
Catholic  Church  is  worthy  of  the  heartiest  allegiance  of  our 
citizens. 

This  providential  aspect  of  the  case  should  not  be  forgotten. 
When  Father  Hecker  had  been  expelled  from  the  Redemptorists 
it  might  have  been  thought  that  he  was  done  for,  and  that  if  he 
had  ever  had  a  mission  it  had  suffered  total  shipwreck,  whether 
deserved  o«*  not.  But  in  reality  the  very  reverse  was  the  truth. 
The  disgrace  of  expulsion,  the  sudden  horror  of  being  thus  cast 
out,  a  calamity  which  set  him  forth  to  all  Catholics  as  a  ruined 
priest,  had  but  served  to  bring  him  into  the  notice  of  the  su- 
preme authority  of  the  Church.  And  when  in  this  God  had 
wrought  all  His  work  His  servant  was  purified  within  and  mightily 
strengthened  without.  In  his  inmost  soul  he  was  conscious  of 
his  divine  mission  with  a  deeper  certitude  than  ever  before ;  and 
as  he  began  his  apostolate  he  bore  on  his  arm  the  buckler  of 
Rome,  against  which  all  the  darts  of  enemies,  if  any  should  arise, 
would  strike  harmless  and  fall    to  the  ground. 

It  was  fitting  that  the  Paulist  community,  appealing  to  the 
men  and  women  of  to-day  with  the  credentials  as  well  of  their  own 
individual  independence  as  of  the  good  will  of  the  Pope  and  the 
Bishops,  should  be  launched  into  existence  from  the  very  deck 
of  Peter's  bark,  and  furnished  with  all  the  testimonials  of  eccle- 
siastical authority  short  of  canonical  sanction.  This  was  the  more 
proper  because,  in  a  few  years  after  the  beginning  of  the  com- 
munity, European  revolutionists  were  to  be  scourged  with  the 
Syllabus,  whose  every  word  agonized  the  souls  of  unworthy  ad- 
vocates of  liberty.  That  Pontifical  document  has  created  a  liter- 
ature of  its  own  in  comment  and  explanation,  some  tying  more 
knots  in  every  lash  and  others  mitigating  its  severity  or  palliating 
the  errors  it  smote  with  such  pitiless  rigor.  But  the  best  in- 
terpretation of  the  Syllabus  is  the  Paulist  community.  It  is  a 
body  of  free  men  whose  origin  was  the  joint  result  of  the  per- 
sonal workings  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  soul  of  a  man  who 
loved*  civil  and  political  freedom  with  a  mighty  love,  and  the 
decision  of  the  highest  court  of  Catholicity  declaring  him  worthy 
of  trust  as  an  exponent  of  the  Christian  faith.  If  the  Syllabus 
shows  what  the  Church  thinks  of  those  who  in  the  guise  of  free- 
men   are    conspirators    against     religion     and     public    order,    the 


Beginnings  of  the  Paulist  Community.  289 


approval  of  the    Paulist  community  shows    the  Church's    attitude 
towards  men   worthy  to  be  free. 

Nor  was  Rome's  course  chosen  without  weighing  the  conse- 
quences, without  a  full  estimate  of  the  public  significance  of 
the  act.  Father  Hecker's  adversaries  fixed  upon  him  every 
stigma  of  radicalism  and  rebellion  possible  in  a  good  but  de- 
luded priest.  For  seven  long  months  they  poured  into  ears 
which  instinctively  feared  revolt  in  the  name  of  liberty,  every  ac- 
cusation his  doings  and  sayings  could  be  made  to  give  color 
to,  in  order  to  prove  that  he  and  the  American  Fathers  were 
tainted  with  false  liberalism.  And  he  seemed  to  lend  himself  to 
their  purpose.  His  guileless  tongue  spoke  to  the  cardinals,  pre- 
lates, and  professors  of  Rome  about  nothing  so  much  as  free- 
dom, and  its  kinship  with  Catholicity.  He  seemed  to  have  no 
refuge  but  the  disclosure  of  the  very  secrets  of  his  soul.  Dur- 
ing those  months  of  incessant  accusation  and  defence  Father 
Hecker  talked  Rome's  high  dignitaries  into  full  knowledge  of 
himself,  until  they  saw  the  cause  mirrored  in  the  man  and  gave 
approval  to  both.  Some,  like  Barnabo,  were  actuated  by  the 
quick  sympathy  of  free  natures;  others,  like  Pius  IX.,  arrived  at 
a  decision  by  the  slower  processes  of  the  removal  of  prejudice 
from  an  honest  mind,  and  the  careful  comparing  of  Father 
Hecker's  principles  with  the  fundamental  truths  of  religion. 


I 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

FATHER    HECKER'S   IDEA   OF    A    RELIGIOUS    COMMUNITY. 

THE  beginnings  of  the  Paulist  community  having  been 
sketched,  it  is  now  in  order  to  state  the  principles  with 
which  Father  Hecker,  guided  no  less  by  supernatural  intuition 
than  by  enlightened  reason,  intended  it  should  be  inspired;  and 
this  shall  be  done  as  nearly  as  possible  in  his  own  words.  The 
following  sentences,  found  in  one  of  his  diaries  and  quoted 
some  chapters  back,  embody  what  may  be  deemed  his  ultimate 
principle: 

"  It  is  for  this  we  are  created  :  that  we  may  give  a  new 
and  individual  expression  of  the  absolute  in  our  own  peculiar 
character.  As  soon  as  the  new  is  but  the  re-expression  of  the 
old,  God  ceases  to  live.  Ever  the  mystery  is  revealed  in  each 
new  birth;  so  must  it  be  to  eternity.  The  Eternal- Absolute  is 
ever  creating  new  forms  of  expressing  itself." 

What  the  new  order  of  things  was  to  be  in  the  spiritual 
life  could  be  learned,  Father  Hecker  held,  by  observing  men's 
strivings  after  natural  good.  The  tendencies  which  shape  men's 
efforts  to  secure  happiness  in  this  world,  in  so  far  as  they  are 
innocent,  indicated  to  him  what  choice  of  means  should  be 
made  to  propagate  the  knowledge  and  love  of  God.  According 
to  this,  the  most  successful  worker  for  a  people's  sanctification  will 
be  kindred  to  them  by  conviction  and  by  sympathy  in  all  that 
concerns  their  political  and  social  life.  Men's  aspirations  in  the 
natural  order  point  out  the  highway  of  God's  representatives. 
As  these  aspirations  change  from  era  to  era,  so  do  the  main 
lines  of  religious  effort  change,  the  highways  of  one  age  becom- 
ing the  byways  of  another.  It  is  true  that  no  method  for  the 
elevation  of  human  nature  to  divine  union,  which  the  Church 
has  sanctioned,  ever  becomes  quite  obsolete,  but  the  merest 
glance  at  the  differences  between  the  spiritual  characteristics  of  the 
martyrs,  the  hermits,  the  monks,  the  friars,  shows  that  one  form 
of  the  Christian  virtues  succeeds  another  in  general  possession  of 
men's  souls.  The  new  spirit,  without  crowding  the  old  one  off  its 
beaten  track,  follows  men  to  the  new  ways  whither  the  provi- 
dence of  God  in  the  natural  order  has  led  them.  "  First  the 
natural  man,"  says  St.   Paul,  "  and  then  the  spiritual."     Different 

types  of    spirituality  are    brought    forward    by  Almighty  God    to 

290 


Father  Hecker' s  Idea  of  a  Religions   Community.  291 


sanctify  men  in  new  conditions  of  life.  Among  the  foremost  of 
these  are  religious  communities  of  men  and  women.  Hence  their 
duty  to  adjust  themselves,  as  far  as  faith  and  discipline  permit, 
to  the  circumstances  of  the  times.  The  power  of  a  religious 
community  for  good  will  be  measured  by  its  ability  to  elevate 
the  natural  to  the  supernatural  without  shocking  it  or  thwart- 
ing it. 

Now,  every  one  knows  that  this  age  differs  materially  from 
past  ones.  It  differs  by  a  wider  spread  of  education  and  an 
uncontrollable    longing    after    liberty,  civil,  political,   and  personal. 

Father  Hecker  was  penetrated  with  the  belief  that  the  intel- 
ligence and  liberty,  whose  well-ordered  enjoyment  he  had  wit- 
nessed in  America,  and  which  he  loved  so  deeply  himself,  were 
divine  invitations  to  the  apostolate  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  He  was 
profoundly  impressed  with  the  certainty  of  the  development,  the 
extension,  and  the  permanence  of  these  political  and  social 
changes ;  and  he  knew  that  they  demanded  of  men  a  personal 
independence  of  character  far  in  advance  of  previous  generations. 
And  he  knew,  also,  that  for  the  sanctification  of  such  men  the 
aids  of  religion,  though  not  changed  in  themselves,  must  be 
applied  in  a  different  spirit.  Discipline  and  uniformity,  though 
never  to  be  dispensed  with,  must  yield  the  first  places  to  more 
interior  virtues.  The  dominant  influence  must  be  docility  to 
the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  dwelling  within  every  re- 
generate soul.  Applying  this,  towards  the  end  of  his  life,  to 
religious  communities,  Father  Hecker  wrote:  "The  controlling 
thought  of  my  mind  for  many  years  has  been  that  a  body  of 
free  men  who  love  God  with  all  their  might,  and  yet  know  how 
to  cling  together,  could  conquer  this  modern  world  of  ours."  The 
sentence  may  be  taken  as  a  brief  description  of  the  Paulist  com- 
munity as  he  would  have  it.  And  it  is  easily  seen  why  free  men 
loving  God  with  all  their  hearts  arc  suited  to  conquer  this 
modern  world  ;  because  men  are  determined  to  be  free. 

The  following  extracts  from  notes,  letters,  and  diaries  more 
fully  develop  this  idea: 

"A  new  religious  order  is  an  evidence  and  expression  of  an 
uncommon  or  special  grace  given  to  a  certain  number  of  souls, 
so  that  they  may  be  sanctified  by  the  practice  of  particular  vir- 
tues to  meet  the  special  needs  of  their  epoch,  and  in  this  way 
to  renew  the  spiritual   life  of  the  members  of  the  Church  and  to 


292  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


extend  her  fold.  A  new  community  is  this,  or  it  has  no  reason 
for  its  existence.  The  means  to  accomplish  its  special  work  are 
both  new  and  old.  It  should  lay  stress  on  the  new,  and  not 
despise  but  also  make  use  of  the  old.  '  The  wise  householder 
bringeth  forth  from  his  treasury  new  things  and    old.'  " 

"  The  true  Paulist  is  a  religious  man  entirely  dependent  on 
God  for  his  spiritual  life ;  he  lives  in  community  for  the  greater 
security  of  his  own  salvation  and  perfection,  and  to  meet  more 
efficiently  the  pressing  needs  of  the  Church  and  of  humanity  in 
his  day." 

"  The  Church  always  finds  in  her  wonderful  fecundity  where- 
with to  supply  the  new  wants  which  arise  in  every  distinct  epoch 
of  society." 

"  A  new  religious  community,  unless  its  activity  is  directed 
chiefly  to  supplying  the  special  needs  of  its  time,  wears  itself  out 
at  the  expense  of  its   true  mission  and  will  decline  and  fail." 

"  We  must  realize  the  necessity  of  more  explicitly  bringing 
out  our  ideal  if  we  would  give  a  sufficient  motive  for  our  students 
and  members,  keep  them  in  the  community,  bring  about  unity 
of  action,  and  accomplish  the  good  which  the  Holy  Spirit  demands 
at  our  hands.  A  Paulist,  as  a  distinct  species  of  a  religious  man,  is 
one  who  is  alive  to  the  pressing  needs  of  the  Church  at  the  present 
time,  and  feels  called  to  labor  specially  with  the  means  fitted  to 
supply  them.  And  what  a  member  of  another  religious  com- 
munity might  do  from  that  divine  guidance  which  is  external,  the 
Paulist  does  from  the  promptings  of  the  indwelling  Holy   Spirit." 

"  A  Paulist  is  a  Christian  man  who  aims  at  a  Christian  perfec- 
tion consistent  with  his  natural  characteristics  and  the  type  of 
civilization  of  his  country." 

"  So  far  as  it  is  compatible  with  faith  and  piety,  I  am  for 
accepting  the  American  civilization  with  its  usages  and  customs ; 
leaving  aside  other  reasons,  it  is  the  only  way  by  which  Catholicity 
can  become  the  religion  of  our  people.  The  character  and  spirit 
of  our  people,  and  their  institutions,  must  find  themselves  at 
home  in  our  Church  in  the  way  those  of  other  nations  have  done  ; 
and  it  is  on  this  basis  alone  that  the  Catholic  religion  can  make 
progress  in  our  country." 

"  What  we  need  to-day  is  men  whose  spirit  is  that  of  the 
early  martyrs.  We  shall  get  them  in  proportion  as  Catholics 
cultivate  a  spirit  of  independence  and  personal  conviction.  The 
highest  development  of  religion   in   the  soul  is  when  it  is  assisted 


Father  Heckcrs  Idea  of  a  Religious   Community.  293 

by  free  contemplation  of  the  ultimate  causes  of  things.  Intelli- 
gence and  liberty  are  the  human  environments  most  favorable 
to  the  deepening  of  personal  conviction  of  religious  truth,  and 
obedience  to  the  interior  movements  of  an  enlightened  con- 
science. To  a  well-ordered  mind  the  question  of  the  hour  is 
how  the  soul  which  aspires  to  the  supernatural  life  shall  utilize 
the  advantages  of  liberty  and   intelligence." 

"  The  form  of  government  of  the  United  States  is  preferable  Jk 
to  Catholics  above  other  forms.  It  is  more  favorable  than 
others  to  the  practice  of  those  virtues  which  are  the  necessary 
conditions  of  the  development  of  the  religious  life  of  man.  This 
government  leaves  men  a  larger  margin  for  liberty  of  action, 
and  hence  for  co-operation  with  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
than  any  other  government  under  the  sun.  With  these  popular 
institutions  men  enjoy  greater  liberty  in  working  out  their  true 
destiny.  The  Catholic  Church  will,  therefore,  flourish  all  the 
more  in  this  republican  country  in  proportion  as  her  representa- 
tives keep,  in  their  civil  life,   to  the  lines  of  their  republicanism. '!__- 

"  The  two  poles  of  the  Paulist  character  are :  first,  personal 
perfection.  He  must  respond  to  the  principles  of  perfection  as 
laid  down  by  spiritual  writers.  The  backbone  of  a  religious 
community  is  the  desire  for  personal  perfection  actuating  its 
members.  The  desire  for  personal  perfection  is  the  foundation 
stone  of  a  religious  community;  when  this  fails,  it  crumbles  to 
pieces;  when  this  reases  to  be  the  dominant  desire,  the  com- 
munity is  tottering.  Missionary  works,  parochial  work,  etc.,  are 
and  must  be  made  subordinate  to  personal  perfection.  These 
works  must  be  done  in  view  of  personal  perfection.  The  main 
purpose  of  each  Paulist  must  be  the  attainment  of  personal  per- 
fection by  the  practice  of  those  virtues  without  which  it  cannot 
be  secured — mortification,  self-denial,  detachment,  and  the  like. 
By  the  use  of  these  means  the  grace  of  God  makes  the  soul 
perfect.  The  perfect  soul  is  one  which  is  guided  instinctively  by 
the  indwelling  Holy  Spirit.  To  attain  to  this  is  the  end  always 
to  be  aimed  at'  in  the  practice  of  the  virtues  just  named. 
Second,  zeal  for  souls ;  to  labor  for  the  conversion  of  the 
country  to  the  Catholic  faith  by  apostolic  work.  Parish  work  is 
a  part,  an  integral  part,  of  Paulist  work,  but  not  its  principal  or 
chief  work  and  parish  work  should  be  done  so  as  to  form  a 
part  of  the  main  aim,  the  conversion  of  the  non-Catholic 
people  of  the  country.       In    this    manner   we    can    labor    to  raise 


294  The  Life  of  Fatlm'  Hccker. 


I 


the  standard  of  Catholic  life  here  and  throughout  the  world  as  a 
means  of  the  general  triumph   of  the  Catholic  faith." 

"  I  do  not  think  that  the  principal  characteristic  of  our 
Fathers  and  of  our  life  should  be  poverty  or  obedience  or  any- 
other  special  and  secondary  virtue,  or  even  a  cardinal  virtue, 
but  zeal  for  apostolic  works.  Our  vocation  is  apostolic — conver- 
sion of  souls  to  the  faith,  of  sinners  to  repentance,  giving  mis- 
sions, defence  of  the  Christian  religion  by  conferences,  lectures, 
sermons,  the  pen,  the  press,  and  the  like  works ;  and  in  the 
interior,  to  propagate  among  men  a  higher  and  more  spiritual 
life.  To  supply  the  special  element  the  age  and  each  country 
demands,  this  is  the  peculiar  work  of  religious  communities  :  this 
their  field.  It  is  a  fatal  mistake  when  religious  attempt  to  do 
the  ordinary  work  of  the  Church.  Let  religious  practise  prayer 
and  study ;  there  will  always  be  enough  of  the  work  to  which 
they  are  called.'' 

"Are  the  Paulists  Religious?  Yes,  and  no.  Yes,  of  their 
age.  No,  of  the  past ;  the  words  in  neither  case  being  taken  in 
an  exclusive  meaning." 

"  As  regards  the  growth  of  the  Paulist,  he  must  develop  in 
an  apostolic  vocation — that  is,  in  apostolic  works,  Catholic,  uni- 
versal ;  not  in  works  which  confine  his  life's  energies  to  a 
locality.  He  must  do  the  work  of  the  Church.  The  work  of 
the  Church,  as  Church,  is  to  render  her  note  of  universality 
more  and  more  conspicuous — to  render  it  sensible,  palpable. 
This  is  the  spirit  of  the  Church  in  our  country." 

The  following  refers  to  the  second  trait  of  the  character 
above  given  :  "  A  Paulist  is  to  emphasize  individuality  ;  that  is, 
to  make  individual  liberty  an  essential  element  in  every  judg- 
ment that  touches  the  life  and  welfare  of  the  community  and  that 
iof  its  members.  Those  who  emphasize  the  community  element 
/are  inclined  to  look  upon  this  as  a  dangerous  and  impracticable 
experiment." 

"  Individuality    is  an    integral   and   conspicuous  element  in  the 

life  of  the  Paulist.     This  must   be  felt.      One  of  the   natural  signs 

of  the    true    Paulist  is    that    he  would    prefer  to  suffer    from  the 

■excesses    of    liberty     rather    than    from    the    arbitrary  actions  of 

tyranny." 

"  The  individuality  of  a  man  cannot  be  too  strong  or  his  lib- 
erty too  great  when  he  is  guided  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  But 
when  one 'is  easily  influenced  from  below  rather  than  from  above, 


Father  Heckcr  s  Idea  of  a  Religious   Community.  295 


it  is  an  evidence  of  the  spirit  of  pride  and  that  of  the  flesh,  and 
not  'the  liberty  of  the  glory  of  the  children   of  God.' 

What  follows  touches  the  relation  between  the  personal  and 
common  life : 

"  Many  other  communities  lay  the  main  stress  on  community 
life  as  the  chief  element,  giving  it  control  as  far  as  is  consistent 
with  fundamental  individual  right;  the  Paulists,  on  the  contrary, 
give  the  element  of  individuality  the  first  place  and  put  it  in 
control  as  far  as  is  consistent  with  the  common  life." 

"  The  spirit  of  the  age  has  a  tendency  to  run  into  extreme 
individuality,  into  eccentricity,  license,  revolution.  But  the  typical 
life  shows  how  individuality  is  consistent  with  community  life. 
This  is  the  aim  of  the  United  States  in  the  political  order,  an 
aim  and  tendency  which  we  have  to  guide,  and  not  to  check  or 
sacrifice." 

"The  element  of  individuality  is  taken  into  account  in  the 
Paulist  essentially,  integrally,  practically.  But  when  it  comes  into 
conflict  with  the  common  right,  the  individual  must  yield  to  the 
community  :  the  common  life  outranks  the  individual  life  in  case 
of  conflict.  But  the  individual  life  should  be  regarded  as  sacred 
and  never  be  effaced.  How  this  is  to  operate  in  particular  cases 
belongs,  where  it  is  not  a  matter  of  rule,  to  the  virtue  of  pru- 
dence to  decide." 

"When  the  personality  of  the  individual  comes  into  conflict 
with  the  life  of  the  community,  the  personal  side  must  not  be 
sacrificed,  but  made  to  yield  to  the  common.  In  case  of  con- 
flict, as  before  said,  common  life  and  interests  outrank  personal 
life  and  interests.  It  may  be  asked  how,  in  the  ordinary  regu- 
lation and  government  of  a  community  of  this  kind,  the  individ- 
ual and  common  elements  are  to  be  made  to  harmonize  ?  The 
answer  is,  that  the  one  at  the  head  of  affairs  must  be  a  true 
Paulist — that  is  to  say,  keenly  sensitive  of  personal  rights  as  well 
as  appreciative  of  such  as  are  common :  where  the  question  is 
not  a  point  of  rule,  its  decision  is  dependent  on  the  practical 
sagacity  and  prudence  of  the  superior  more  than  on  any  minute 
regulations  which  can  be  given.  He  who  interprets  the  acts  of 
legitimate  authority  as  an  attack  on  his  personal  liberty,  is  as  far 
out.  of  the  way  as  he  who  looks  upon  the  exercise  of  reason  as 
an   attack  on  authority." 

"  How    about  persons  of    dull  minds  or  of  little  spiritual  am- 


2c,6  The  Life  of  Fat  key  Hecker. 

bition  coming  into  the  use  of  this  freedom  ?  First,  no  such  per- 
son should  be  allowed  to  enter  into  the  community :  such  persons 
should  be  excluded.  Second,  a  full-fledged  Paulist  should  have 
passed  a  long  enough  novitiate  to  have  acquired  the  special  vir- 
tues which  are  necessary  for  his  vocation.  Absence  of  superna- 
tural light  is  the  cause  why  a  man  is  not  fit  to  be  a  Paulist, 
for  he  cannot  understand  rightly  or  appreciate  the  value  of  the 
liberties  he  enjoys.  He  either  is  or  he  becomes  a  turbulent  element 
in  the  community." 

"A  Paulist,  seeing  that  he  has  so  much  individuality,  should 
have  a  strong,  nay,  a  very  strong  attrait  for  community  life  ;  he 
should  be  fond  of  the  Fathers'  company,  prefer  them  and  their 
society  when  seeking  proper  recreation,  feel  the  house  to  be 
his  home  and  the  community  and  its  surroundings  very  dear  to 
him  ;  in  the  routine  of  the  day  all  the  community  exercises  and 
labors  are,  in  his  judgment,  of  paramount  obligation  and  im- 
portance. 

"  The  civil  and  political  state  of  things  of  our  age,  particularly 
in  the  United  States,  fosters  the  individual  life.  But  it  should 
do  so  without  weakening  the  community  life  :  this  is  true  indi- 
vidualism. The  problem  is  to  make  the  synthesis.  The  joint 
product    is    the    Paulist." 

"A  Paulist  should  cultivate  personal  freedom  without  detri- 
ment to  the  community  spirit ;  and,  vice  versa,  the  community 
spirit  should  not  be  allowed  to  be  detrimental  to  personal  free- 
dom. But  when  the  individual  life  runs  into  eccentricity,  license, 
and  revolution,  that  is  a  violation  and  sacrifice  of  the  commu- 
nity  life." 

"  The  duty  of  the  Paulist  Superior  is  to  elicit  the  spontaneous 
zeal  of  the  Fathers  and  to  further  it  with  his  authority.  For  lack 
of  one's  own  initiative  that  of  another  may  be  used,  and  herein 
the  Superior  ofiers  a  constant  help.  But  the  centre  of  action  is 
individual,  is  in  the  soul  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost ;  not  in  the 
Superior  of  the  community  or  in  the  authorities  of  the  Church. 
And  if  he  be  moved  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  he  will  be  most  obedient 
to  his  superior  ;  and  he  will  not  only  be  submissive  to  the  authority 
of  the  Church,  but  careful  to  follow  out  her  spirit." 

In  explaining  the  routine  of  daily  life  Father  Hecker  said : 
"The  member  of  a  community  who  does  not  make  the  common 
exercises  \o$  religion]  his  first  care  is  derelict  of  his  duty.  A 
common  exercise  should  be  preferred   to   all  other  devotional  prac- 


Father  Hcckcr 's  Idea  of  a  Religions   Community.  297 

tices  or  occupations  whatever;  as  far  as  possible  all  other  ex- 
ercises ought  to  be  made  subordinate  to  common  ones,  which 
should  never    be  omitted  without  permission  of  the  superior." 

Father  Hccker  was  once  asked  :  "  Which  would  you  prefer  :  to 
have  a  rule  and  manner  of  life  adapted  to  a  large  number  of  men, 
embracing  many  of  a  uniform  type,  men  good  enough  for  average 
work,  intended  to  include  and  seeking  to  retain  persons  of  medi- 
ocre spirit,  and  having  a  dim  understanding  of  our  peculiar  insti- 
tute ?  or  would  you  prefer  the  rule  to  be  made  only  for  a  select 
body,  composed  of  such  men  as  -  —  and  — ,  and  the  like  ? ' 
[Answer:]  "I  should  prefer  the  rule  to  be  made  for  the  smaller 
and  more  select  body  of  men.  Religious  vocations  are  not  com- 
mon, but  special.  It  is  a  fatal  mistake  for  religious  to  take  the 
place  of  secular  priests." 

No  one  can  be  misled  by  what  he  has  read  in  the  foregoing 
pages  into  the  notion  that  Father  Hecker  had  any  other  aim  than 
the  entire  consecration  of  liberty  and  intelligence  to  the  influence 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.  To  know  Father  Hecker  well  was  to  be  more 
deeply  impressed  with  his  longing  for  the  reign  of  the  Spirit  of  God 
in  men's  souls  than  even  with  his  love  of  human  liberty.  In  his 
esteem  the  worth  of  the  latter  was  altogether  in  proportion  to  its 
aptitude  for  the  former.  His  love  of  liberty  was  that  of  a  means 
to  an  end — the  perfect  oblation  of  the  inner  man  to  God.  He 
aimed  at  individuality  because  of  his  belief  in  the  action  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  in  the  individual  soul.  Such  action,  he  was  quick  to 
maintain,  is  given  to  every  Christian,  but  it  is  to  be  looked  for  in 
a  high  degree  in  those  who  are  called  by  a  special  vocation  to 
assist  independent  characters  to  find  the  spirit  of  God  within 
them  ;  or,  if  already  known,  to  obey  His  direction  implicitly. 
Paulists  after  Father  Hecker's  heart  would  be  men  whom  experi- 
ence and  study  had  rendered  fit  instruments  for  disseminating  the 
knowledge  of  the  ways  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost  in  men's  hearts ; 
for  instructing  the  faithful  how  to  distinguish  the  voice  of  God 
in  the  soul  from  the  vagaries  of  the  imagination  or  the  emotions 
of  passion,  and  able  to  stimulate  a  ready  and  generous  response 
to  every  call  of  God  from   within. 

It  is  because  of  this  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  every 
regenerate  soul  that.  Father  Hecker  so  vigorously  maintained  that 
the  freedom  of  the  individual  is  a  golden  opportunity  for  the 
Catholic  apostolate,  according  to    the  text  "  Where  the  Spirit  of 


298  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty."  Freedom,  he  affirmed,  was  in  ab- 
solute consonance  with  Catholic  doctrine.  But  he  furthermore 
insisted  that  it  has  become  the  world-wide  aspiration  of  men  by 
interposition  of  Divine  Providence  and  with  a  view  to  their  higher 
sanctification  ;  and  however  grossly  abused,  it  is  yet  a  direct 
suggestion  to  an  apostolate  whose  prospects  are  in  the  highest 
degree  promising.  And  this  is  the  answer  to  the  question 
which  reasonable  persons  may  well  ask,  namely :  Why  should 
the  new  institution  differ  so  radically  from  the  old  ones,  which 
were  certainly  works  of  God  ?  Because  the  change  of  men's 
lives  in  the  entire  secular  and  natural  order  is  in  the  direction 
of  personal  liberty  and  independence,  and  this  change  is  a  radi- 
cal one.  "  The  Eternal-Absolute  is  ever  creating  new  forms  of 
expressing  itself."  If,  indeed,  men's  aspirations  for  liberty  and 
intelligence  be  all  from  the  powers  of  darkness,  then  let  every 
longing  for  freedom  be  repressed  and  condemned,  crushed  by 
authority  in  the  state,  anathematized  by  the  Church.  But  if 
men  are  yearning  to  be  free,  however  blindly,  because  God 
by  their  freedom  would  make  them  holier,  then  let  us  hail  the 
new  order  as  a  blessing ;  and  let  those  who  love  freedom  and 
are  worthy  of  it  use  its  privileges  to  advance  themselves  and 
their  brethren  nearer  to  immediate  union  with  the  Holy  Spirit. 

It  has  been  seen  that  the  important  question  whether  the 
end  of  the  new  community  would  be  better  attained  with  the 
usual  religious  vows  or  without  them  was  decided  in  the  nega- 
tive. They  were  not  definitely  rejected  in  the  beginning  ;  but 
starting  without  them,  the  Fathers  were  willing  to  allow  expe- 
rience to  show  whether  or  not  they  should  be  resumed.  The 
lapse  of  time  but  confirmed  the  view  that  the  voluntary  agreement 
and  the  bond  of  fraternal  charity  were,  under  the  circumstances, 
preferable  as  securities  for  stability  and  incentives  to  holiness. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  Father  Hecker's  ideas  on 
this  feature  of  the  religious  state  had  been  greatly  modified  be- 
tween the  writing  of  the  Questions  of  the  Soul  and  the  end  of 
the  struggle  in  Rome.  Much  is  said  in  that  book  of  commun- 
ity life  in  the  Catholic  Church,  and  generally  as  rendered  stable 
and  its  spirit  of  sacrifice  made  complete  by  the  vows;  and  in 
the  statement  given  in  Rome  to  his  five  chosen  advisers,  he 
says  that  one  reason  for  writing  the  volume  named  was  to  in- 
duce young  men  to  enter  the  religious  orders  as  the  only  means 
of  perfection — meaning  orders    under    vows.      But    when    he    was 


Father  Heckers  Idea  of  a   Religious   Community.  299 


released  from  his  own  obligations  and  was  confronted  with  the 
choice  of  means  for  following  his  vocation,  the  horizon  broaden- 
ed away  until  he  could  see  beyond  the  institutions  and  tra- 
ditions in  which  he  had  lived  since  entering  the  novitiate  at  St. 
Trond.  His  ideas  of  perfection  in  its  relation  to  states  of  life 
underwent  a  change.  Therefore  he  said,  Let  us  wait  for  the 
unmistakable  will  of  God  before  we  bind  ourselves  with  vows 
amidst  a  free  people.  He  never  depreciated  the  evident  value 
of  these  obligations ;  indeed,  he  seldom  was  heard  to  speak  of 
them.  But  he  knew  from  close  observation  the  truth  of  the 
words  of  the  Jesuit  Avancinus  : 

"  The  net  (St.  Matthew  xiii.  44)  is  the  Catholic  Church, 
or,  to  take  a  narrower  view,  it  means  the  station  in  which  you 
are  placed.  As  in  a  net  all  kinds  of  fish  are  to  be  found,  so  in 
your  position,  as  in  all  others,  there  are  good  and  bad  Chris- 
tians. .  .  .  Should  yours  be  a  sacred  calling,  you  are  not,  on 
that  account,  either  the  better  or  the  more  secure  ;  your  sanctity 
and  your  salvation  depend  on  yourself,  not  on  your  calling." 
{Meditations,  Fourteenth  Friday  after  Pentecost.) 

It  never  entered  into  the  minds  of  the  Fathers  to  question 
the  doctrine  and  practice  of  the  Church  concerning  vows.  But 
personal  experience  proves  the  lesson  of  history,  that  what  re- 
ligion needs  is  not  so  much  holy  states  of  life  as  holy  men  and 
women. 

Looking  back  into  the  past,  Father  Hecker  saw  St.  Philip 
Neri,  to  whom  he  had  a  great  devotion  and  for  whose  spiritual 
doctrine  he  had  a  high  admiration.  The  following  is  from  an 
exponent  of  that  doctrine,  and  is  much  in  point : 

"Although  our  Fathers  and  lay  brothers  [Oratorians]  make 
no  vow  of  obedience,  as  do  religious,  they  are,  nevertheless,  no 
way  inferior  in  the  perfection  of  this  virtue  to  those  who  profess 
it  in  the  cloister  with  solemn  vows.  They  supply  the  want  of 
vows  with  love,  with  voluntary  promptitude,  and  perfection  in 
obeying  every  wish  of  the  superior.  And  it  is  a  thing  for 
which  we  must  indeed  thank  God,  that  without  the  obligation 
of  obeying  under  pain  of  sin,  without  fear  of  restraint  or  other 
punishment  (except  that  of  expulsion  in  case  of  contumacy),  all 
the  subjects  are  prompt  in  this  obedience,  even  in  things  most 
humiliating  and  severe,  according  to  the  terms  of  the  rule.  All 
take  pleasure  in  meeting  the  wishes  of  the  superior,  etc."  (The 
Excelle)iccs  of  the  Oratory  of  St.  Philip  Neri,  p.  136.  London: 
Burns   &   Gates  ) 


300  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker, 


Father  Hecker  did  not  dream  that  by  relinquishing  the  vows 
he  and  his  companions  in  the  Paulist  community  had  cast  away 
a  single  incentive  to  virtue  capable  of  moving  such  men  as  they, 
or  had  even  failed  to  secure  any  of  the  insignia  adorning  the 
great  host  of  men  and  women  in  the  Catholic  Church  whose 
entire  being  has  been  given  up  to  the  divine  service.  "  The  true 
Paulist,"  said  he  once,  "should  be  fit  and  ready  to  take  the 
solemn  vows  at  any  moment."  He  felt  strongly  the  truth  of  the 
following  words  of  the  Jesuit  Lallemant : 

"A  desire  and  hunger  after  our  perfection,  a  determined  will 
to  be  constantly  tending  towards  it  with  all  our  strength — let  this 
be  always  our  chief  object  and  our  greatest  care.  Let  us  bear  in 
mind  that  this  care  is  more  of  the  essence  of  religion  \i.e.y  of  a 
religious  order]  than  vows  themselves  ;  for  it  is  on  this  that  our 
whole  spiritual  progress  depends.  Herein  consists  the  difference 
between  true  religious  and  those  who  are  so  only  in  appearance 
and  in  the  sight  of  men.  Without  this  care  to  advance  in  per- 
fection the  religious  state  does  not  secure  our  salvation  ;  but 
nothing  is  more  common  than  to  deceive  ourselves  on  this  point." 
{The  Spiritual  Doctrine  of  Father  Louis  Lalletnaiit,  S.J.,  p.  in. 
New  York:  Sadlier  &  Co.) 

With  regard  to  stability,  men  of  stable  character  need  no 
vow  to  guarantee  adherence  to  a  divine  vocation,  and  men  of 
feeble  character  may  indeed  vow  themselves  into  an  outward 
stability,  but  it  is  of  little  fruit  to  themselves  personally,  and 
their  irremovability  is  often  of  infinite  distress  to  their  superi- 
ors and  brethren.  The  episcopate  is  the  one  religious  order 
founded  by  Our  Lord,  and  its  members  are  in  the  highest  state 
of  evangelical  perfection  ;  yet  they  are  neither  required  nor  advised 
to    take    the  oaths  or  vows  of  religious    orders. 

Neither  Father  Hecker  nor  any  of  his  associates  had  the  least 
aversion  to  the  vows.  On  the  contrary,  they  had  lived  con- 
tentedly under  them  for  many  of  their  most  active  years,  and  it 
will  be  remembered  of  Father  Hecker  that  he  never  found  them 
irksome,  had  never  known  a  temptation  against  them. 

The  question  which  arose  was  a  choice  between  two  kinds 
of  community,  the  one  fast  bound  by  external  obligations  to  the 
Church  in  the  form  of  vows,  placing  the  members  in  a  relation  of 
peculiar  strictness  to  the  Canon  Law ;  or  another  kind,  in  which 
the  members  trusted  wholly  to  the  strength  of  Divine  grace,  and 
their  own  conscious   purpose  never  to    give  up  the  fight  for  per- 


Father  Hecker's  Idea  of  a  Religious  Community.  301 

fection  ;  which  of  these  states  would  better  facilitate  the  action 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  present  Providence  of  God;  and 
which  of  them  would  tend  to  produce  a  type  of  character 
fitted  to  evangelize  a  nation  of  independent  and  self-reliant  men 
and  women  ?     The  free  community  was  chosen. 

No  doubt  this  involved  some  risk  of  criticism,  particularly  in 
the  beginning,  for  it  was  a  wonder  to  many  that  men  should 
organize  for  a  life  long  endeavor  after  perfection  and  not 
swear  to  it,  especially  as  none  of  the  free  communities  existing 
in  Europe  had  houses  in  America,  for  the  Sulpitians  belong  to 
the  secular  clergy.  And  there  was  also  danger  of  unworthy 
subjects  creeping  in  under  favor  of  a  freedom  they  were  unfit 
to  enjoy.  For  it  may  be  reproached  against  us  that  we  are 
apt  to  be  victimized  by  men  ruled  by  caprice,  indulging  in 
extravagant  schemes  or  deluded  by  wandering  fancies  ;  and  also 
by  superiors  who  would  let  everybody  do  as  he  pleased.  No 
doubt  such  dangers  are  to  be  guarded  against.  But  vowed 
communities  do  not  claim  to  be  free  from  difficulties.  No  state 
of  life  and  no  organization  claims  to  be  so  perfect  as  totally  to 
prevent  abuse  of  power  on  the  part  of  superiors  or  caprice  and 
sloth    on  the  part  of   members. 

Both  kinds  of  organized  religious  life  have  their  difficulties : 
the  one,  the  martinet  superior  and  the  routine  subject ;  the  other, 
the  capricious  subject  and  the  lax  superior.  In  one  kind  the 
bond  of  union  as  well  as  the  stimulus  of  endeavor  is  mainly  obe- 
dience, fraternal  charity  assisting  ;  in  the  other  it  is  mainly  fra- 
ternal charity,  obedience  assisting ;  each  has  to  overcome  obsta- 
cles peculiar  to  itself. 

What  has  been  said  in  this  chapter,  besides  serving  to  exhibit 
Father  Hecker's  principles  as  a  founder,  will  be,  we  trust,  a  suffi- 
cient answer  to  the  silly  delusion  which  the  Paulists  have  encoun- 
tered in  some  quarters,  that  their  society  tolerates  a  soft  life  and 
supposes  in  its  members  no  high  vocation  to  perfection  ;  or  that 
the  voluntary  principle  allows  them  a  personal  choice  in  regard  to 
the  devotional  exercises,  permitting  them  to  attend  or  not  attend 
this  or  that  meditation  or  devotion  laid  down  in  the  rule,  as  "  the 
spirit  moves  them ."  This  is  as  plain  an  error  as  another  one 
which  had  much  currency  for  years  and  which  is  not  yet  every- 
where corrected  :  that  the  Paulist  community  was  open  to  con- 
verts alone  and  received   none  others. 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

FATHER    HECKER'S   SPIRITUAL    DOCTRINE. 

HAVING  given  in  the  preceding  chapter  Father  Hecker's  prin- 
ciples of  the  religious  life  in  community,  a  more  general  view 
of  his  spiritual  doctrine,  as  well  as  of  his  method  of  the  direction 
of  souls,  naturally  follows.  And  here  we  are  embarrassed  by  the 
amount  of  matter  to  choose  from  ;  for  as  he  was  always  talking 
about  spiritual  doctrine  to  whomsoever  he  could  get  to  listen,  so  in 
his  published  writings,  in  his  letters  to  intimate  friends,  and  in 
his  notes  and  memoranda,  we  have  found  enough  falling  under 
the  heading  of  this  chapter  to  fill  a  volume.  Let  us  hope  for 
its  publication  some  day. 

It  need  hardly  be  said  that  Father  Hecker  did  not  claim  to 
have  any  new  doctrine ;  there  can  be  none,  and  he  knew  it  well. 
Every  generation  since  Christ  has  had  His  entire  revelation. 
Development  is  the  word  which  touches  the  outer  margin  of  all 
possible  adaptation  of  Christian  principles  to  the  changing  condi- 
tions of  humanity.  But  in  the  transmission  of  these  principles  from 
master  to  disciple,  in  practically  assisting  in  their  use  by  public 
instruction,  or  by  private  advice,  or  by  choice  of  devotional  and 
ascetical  exercises,  there  is  as  great  a  variety  of  method  as  of 
temperament  among  races,  and  even  among  individuals ;  and 
there  are  broadly  marked  differences  which  are  conterminous 
with  providential  eras  of  history.  This  was  a  truth  which  Father 
Hecker,  in  common  with  all  discerning  minds,  took  carefully 
into   account. 

His  fundamental  principle  of  Christian  perfection  may  be 
termed  a  view  of  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  divine  grace  suited 
to  the  aspirations  of  our  times.  By  divine  grace  the  love  of 
God  is  diffused  in  our  hearts  ;  the  Holy  Spirit  takes  up  his  abode 
there  and  makes  us  children  of  the  Heavenly  Father,  and  brethren 
of  Jesus  Christ  the  Divine  Son.  The  state  of  grace  is  thus  an 
immediate  union  of  the  soul  with  the  Holy  Trinity,  its  Creator, 
Mediator,  and  Sanctifier.  To  secure  this  union  and  render  it 
more  and  more  conscious  was  Father  Hecker's  ceaseless  endeavor 
through  life,  both  for  himself  and  for  those  who  fell  under  his 
influence,  whether  in  cleansing  the  soul  of  all  hindrances  of  sin 
and  imperfection,    or    advancing    it    deeper    and    deeper    into  the 

divine  life  by  prayer  and  the  sacraments. 

302 


Father  flecker ' s  Spiritual  Doctrine.  303 


His  doctrine  of  Christian  perfection  might  be  formulated  as  a 
profession  of  faith  :  I  believe  in  God  the  Father  Almighty ;  I 
believe  in  Jesus  Christ  the  Only  Begotten  Sou  of  the  Father;  I 
believe  in  the  Holy  Ghost  the  Life  Giver,  the  spirit  of  adop- 
tion by  whom  I  am  enabled  to  say  to  the  Father,  My  Father, 
and  to  the  Son,  My  Brother. 

He  wished  that  men  generally  should  be  made  aware  of  the 
immediate  nature  of  this  union  of  the  soul  with  God,  and  that 
they  should  become  more  and  more  personally  conscious  of  it. 
He  would  bring  this  about  without  the  intervention  of  other 
persons  or  other  methods  than  the  divinely  constituted  ones 
accessible  to  all  in  the  priesthood  and  sacraments.  It  was  the 
development  of  the  supernatural,  heavenly,  divine  life  of  the  re- 
generate man,  born  again  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  Father  Hecker 
made  the  end  of  all  he  said  and  all  he  did  in  leading  souls ; 
and  he  maintained  that  to  partake  of  this  life  which  is  "  the  light 
of  men,"  many  souls  needed  little  interference  on  the  part  of 
others,  and  that  in  every  case  the  utmost  care  should  be  taken 
lest  the  soul  should  mingle  human  influences,  even  the  holiest, 
in    undue  proportion   with  those  which    were  strictly  divine. 

"  Go  to  God,"  he  wrote  to  one  asking  advice,  "go  entirely  to 
God,  go  integrally  to  God ;  behold,  that  is  sincerity,  complete, 
perfect  sincerity.  Do  that,  and  make  it  a  complete,  continuous  act, 
and  you  need  no  help  from  me  or  any  creature.  I  wish  to 
provoke  you  to  do  it.  That  is  my  whole  aim  and  desire.  Just 
in  proportion  as  we  harbor  pride,  vanity,  self-love — in  a  word, 
self-hood — just  so  far  we  fail  in  integrally  resigning  ourselves  to 
God.  Were  we  wholly  resigned  to  God  He  would  change  all  in 
us  that  is  in  discord  with  Him,  and  prepare  our  souls  for  union 
with  Him,  making  us  one  with  Himself.  God  longs  for  our 
souls  greatly  more  than  our  souls  can  long  for  Him.  Such  is 
God's  thirst  for  love  that  He  made  all  creatures  to  love  Him, 
and  to  have  no  rest  until  they  love  Him  supremely.  If  my 
words  are  not  to  your  soul  God's  words  and  voice,  pay  no  heed 
to  them.  If  they  are,  hesitate  not  a  moment  to  obey.  If  they 
humble  you  to  the  dust,  what  a  blessing  !  He  that  is  humbled 
shall  be  exalted." 

"  Peace  is  gained  by  a  wise  inaction,  and  strength  by  integral 
resignation  to  God,  who  will  do  all,  and  more  than  we,  with 
the   boldest  imagination,  can  fancy  or  desire." 


304  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

"  May  you  see  God  in  all,  through  all,  and  above  all.  May 
the  Divine  transcendence  and  the  Divine  immanence  be  the 
two  poles  of  your  life." 

The  natural  faculties  of  the  understanding  and  will,  whose 
integrity  Father  Hecker  so  much  valued,  were  to  be  established 
in  a  new  life  infinitely  above  their  native  reach,  glorified  with 
divine  life,  their  activity  directed  to  the  knowledge  of  things  not 
even  dreamed  of  before,  and  endowed  with  a  divine  gift  of 
loving.  In  this  state  the  Holy  Spirit  communicates  to  the 
human  faculties  force  to  accomplish  intellectual  and  moral  feats 
which  naturally  can  be  accomplished  by  God  alone.  This  is 
called  by  theologians  supernatural  infused  virtue,  and  is  rooted 
in  Faith,  Hope,  and  Love,  is  made  efficacious  by  spiritual  gifts 
of  wisdom  and  understanding,  and  knowledge  and  counsel,  and 
other  gifts  and  forces,  the  conscious  and  daily  possession  of 
which  the  Christian  is  entitled  to  hope  for  and  strive  after,  and 
finally  to  obtain  and  enjoy  in    this  life. 

That  this  union  is  a  personal  relation,  and  that  it  should  be 
a  distinctly  conscious  one  on  the  soul's  part,  all  will  admit  who 
think  but  a  moment  of  the  infinite,  loving  activity  of  the  Spirit 
of  God,  and  the  natural  and  supernatural  receptivity  of  the 
spirit  of  man.  Although  not  even  the  smallest  germ  of  the 
supernatural  life  is  found  in  nature,  yet  the  soul  of  man  cease- 
lessly, if  blindly,  yearns  after  its  possession.  Once  possessed,  the 
life  of  God  blends  into  our  own,  mingles  with  it  and  is  one 
with  it,  impregnating  it  as  magnetism  does  the  iron  of  the  lode- 
stone,  till  the  divine  qualities,  without  suppressing  nature,  en- 
tirely possess  it,  and  assert  for  it  and  over  it  the  Divine 
individuality.  "  Now  I  live,  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me." 
An  author  much  admired  by  Father  Hecker  thus  describes  the 
effects  produced  in  the  soul  by  supernatural  faith,  and  hope,  and 
love: 

"  These  virtues  are  called  and  in  reality  are  Divine  virtues. 
They  are  called  thus  not  because  they  are  related  to  God  in 
general,  but  because  they  unite  us  in  a  divine  manner  with 
God,  have  Him  for  their  immediate  motive,  and  can  be  produced 
in  us  only  by  a  communication  of  the  Divine  nature.  . 
For  the  life  that  the  children  of  God  lead  here  upon  earth 
must  be  of  the  same  kind  as  the  life  that  awaits  them  in 
heaven."  (Scheeben's  Glories  of  Divine  Grace,  p.  222  ;  Benziger 
Bros.) 


Father  Jleekcrs  Spiritual  Doctrine.  305 

To  partake  thus  of  the  inner  life  of  God  was  Father  Hecker's 
one  spiritual  ambition,  and  to  help  others  to  it  his  one  motive 
for  dealing  with  men.  He  was  ever  insisting  upon  the  closeness 
of  the  divine  union,  and  that  it  is  our  life  brought  into  actual 
touch  with  God,  whose  supreme  and  essential  activity  must,  by 
a  law  of  its  own  existence,  make  itself  felt,  dominate  as  far  as 
permitted  the  entire  activity  of  the  soul,  and  win  more  and 
more  upon  its  life  till  all  is  won.  Then  are  fulfilled  the 
Apostle's  words :  "  But  we  all  beholding  the  glory  of  the  Lord 
with  open  face  are  transformed  into  the  same  image  from  glory 
to  glory,  as  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  "  (II.  Cor.  iii.    18). 

Here  are  some  of  Father  Hecker's  words,  printed  but  a  year 
or  two  before  his  death,  which  treat  not  only  of  the  interior 
life  in  general,  but  in  particular  of  its  relation  to  the  outer 
action  of  God  on  the  soul  through  the  divine  organism  of  the 
Church  : 

"  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  attributes  the  absence  of  spiritual  joy 
mainly  to  neglect  of  consciousness  of  the  inner  life.  '  During 
this  life,'  he  says  (Opiisciila  de  Beatitudine,  cap.  iii.),  'we  should 
continually  rejoice  in  God,  as  something  perfectly  fitting,  in  all 
our  actions  and  for  all  our  actions,  in  all  our  gifts  and  for  all 
our  gifts.  Ic  is,  as  Isaias  declares,  that  we  may  particularly 
enjoy  him  that  the  Son  of  God  has  been  given  to  us.  What 
blindness  and  what  gross  stupidity  for  many  who  are  always 
seeking  God,  always  sighing  for  Him,  frequently  desiring  Him, 
daily  knocking  and  clamoring  at  the  door  for  God  by  prayer, 
while  they  themselves  are  all  the  time,  as  the  apostle  says, 
temples  of  the  living  God,  and  God  truly  dwelling  within  them; 
while  all  the  time  their  souls  are  the  abiding-place  of  God, 
wherein  He  continually  reposes !  Who  but  a  fool  would  look 
for  something  out  of  doors  which  he  knows  he  has  within  ? 
What  is  the  good  of  anything  which  is  always  to  be  sought  and 
never  found,  and  who  can  be  strengthened  with  food  ever 
craved  but  never  tasted  ?  Thus  passes  away  the  life  of  many  a 
good  man,  always  searching  and  never  finding  God,  and  it  is 
for  this    reason  that   his    actions  are  imperfect.' 

"A  man  with  such  a  doctrine  must  cultivate  mainly  the  in- 
terior life.  His  answer  to  the  question,  What  is  the  relation 
between  the  inner  and  the  outer  action  of  God  upon  my  soul  ? 
is  that    God    uses    the    outer  for    the   sake    of  the   inner   life. 


306  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

"  There  seems  to  be  little  danger  nowadays  of  our  losing 
sight  of  the  Divine  authority  and  the  Divine  action  in  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Church,  and  in  the  aids  of  religion  conveyed 
through  the  external  order  of  the  sacraments.  Yet  it  is  only 
after  fully  appreciating  the  life  of  God  within  us  that  we  learn 
to  prize  fittingly  the  action  of  God  in  His  external  Providence. 
Such  is  the  plain  teaching  of  St.  Thomas  in  the  extract  above 
given. 

"  By  fully  assimilating  this  doctrine  one  comes  to  aim  stead- 
ily at  securing  a  more  and  more  direct  communion  with  God. 
Thus  he  does  not  seek  merely  for  an  external  life  in  an  external 
society,  or  become  totally  absorbed  in  external  observances ;  but 
he  seeks  the  invisible  God  through  the  visible  Church,  for  she 
is  the  body  of  Christ  the  Son  of  God. 

"  Once  a  man's  hand  is  safe  on  the  altar  his  eye  and  voice 
are  lifted  to  God. 

"  It  is  not  to  keep  up  a  strained  outlook  for  times  and 
moments  of  the  interior  visitations,  but  to  wait  calmly  for  the 
actual  movements  of  the  Divine  Spirit ;  to  rely  mainly  upon  it 
and  not  solely  upon  what  leads  to  it,  or  communicates  it,  or 
guarantees  its  genuine  presence  by  necessary  external  tests  and 
symbols. 

"  Not  an  anxious  search,  least  of  all  a  craving  for  extraordin- 
ary lights;  but  a  constant  readiness  to  perceive  the  Divine  guidance 
in  the  secret  ways  of  the  soul,  and  then  to  act  with  decision 
and  a  noble  and  generous  courage — this  is  true  wisdom. 

"  The  Holy  Spirit  is  thus  the  inspiration  of  the  inner  life  of 
the  regenerate  man,  and  in  that  life  is  his  Superior  and  Director. 
That  His  guidance  may  become  more  and  more  immediate  in  an 
interior  life,  and  the  soul's  obedience  more  and  more  instinctive, 
is  the  object  of  the  whole  external  order  of  the  Church,  includ- 
ing the  sacramental  system. 

"  Says  Father  Lallemant  {Spiritual  Doctrine,  3d  principle,  chap. 
i.  art.  1) :  '  All  creatures  that  are  in  the  world,  the  whole  order  of 
nature  as  well  as  that  of  grace,  and  all  the  leadings  of  Provi- 
dence, have  been  so  disposed  as  to  remove  from  our  souls  what- 
ever is  contrary  to  God.'" 

What  follows    has    been    culled    from    notes    and  memoranda: 

"  When  authority  and  liberty  are  intelligently  understood, 
when    both    aim    at    the    same    end,  then    the    universal    reign  of 


Father  Hecker's  Spiritual  Doctrine.  307 


God's  authority  in    the  Church  will  be  near  and  the  kingdom  of 
God   be  established  universally." 

"The  whole  future  of  the  human  race  depends  on  bringing 
the  individual  soul  more  completely  and  perfectly  under  the 
sway   of  the   Holy  Spirit." 

"What  society  most  needs  to-day  is  the  baptism  of  the 
Holy   Spirit." 

"That  soul  is  perfect  which  is  guided  habitually  by  the 
instinct  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 

"The  aim  of  Christian  perfection  is  the  guidance  of  the  soul 
by  the  indwelling  Holy  Spirit.  This  is  attained,  ordinarily,  first 
by  bringing  whatever  is  inordinate  in  our  animal  propensities 
under  the  control  of  the  dictates  of  reason  by  the  practice  of 
mortification  and  self-denial ;  for  it  is  a  self-evident  principle  that 
a  rational  being  ought  to  be  master  of  his  animal  appetites.  And 
second,  by  bringing  the  dictates  of  reason  under  the  control  and 
inspiration  of  the  Holy  Spirit  by  recollection,  and  by  fidelity  and 
docility  to  its  movements." 

"To  attain  to  the  spiritual  estate  of  the  conscious  guidance 
of  the  indwelling  Holy  Spirit,  the  practice  of  asceticism  and  of 
the  natural  and  Christian  moral  virtues  are  the  preparatory 
means." 

"  To  rise  before  the  light  appears,  is  vain  ;  to  hinder  the 
soul  from  rising  when  it  does  appear,  is  oppression.  In  the 
first  place,  the  soul  is  exposed  to  delusions  ;  in  the  second,  it  is 
subjected  to  arbitrary  human  authority.  The  former  opens  the 
door  to  all  sorts  of  extravagances  and  heresies ;  the  latter  breeds 
a  spirit  of  servility  and  bondage." 

"To  reach  that  stage  of  the  spiritual  life  which  is  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  indwelling  and  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
some  souls  need  the  practice  of  asceticism  more  than  others, 
these  latter  being  more  advanced  by  the  practice  of  the  Christian 
virtues.  Others,  again,  need  the  strenuous  practice  of  both  of 
these  means  of  advancement  until  the  close  of  their  lives.  And 
there  is  another  class  which  reaches  this  degree  of  spiritual 
growth  sooner  and  with  less  difficulty  than  the  generality  of  souls." 

"  Whenever  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  sufficiently 
recognized,  then  the  practice  of  the  virtues  immediately  related 
to  this  action  and  proper  to  increase  it  in  the  soul  are  to  be 
recommended,  such  as  recollection,  purity  of  heart,  docility  and 
fidelity  to  the  inner  voice,  and  the  like." 


308  The  Life  of  Father  Meeker. 

"  It  should  ever  be  kept  in  view  that  the  practice  of  the 
virtues  is  not  only  for  their  own  sake  and  to  obtain  merit,  but 
mainly  in  order  to  remove  all  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  guid- 
ance of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  to  assist  the  soul  in  following  His 
operations   with  docility." 

"  Obedience  in  its  spiritual  aspect  divests  one  of  self-will  and 
makes  him  prompt  to  submit  to  the  will  of  God  alone.  Viewed 
as  an  act  of  justice,  obedience  is  the  payment  of  due  service  to 
one's  superior,   who  holds  his  office  by  appointment  of  God." 

"The  essential  mistake  of  the  transcendentalists  is  the  taking 
for  their  guide  the  instincts  of  the  soul  instead  of  the  inspira- 
tions of  the  Holy  Spirit.  They  are  moved  by  the  natural 
instincts  of  human  beings  instead  of  the  instinct  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  But  true  spiritual  direction  consists  in  discovering  the 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  Divine  guidance,  in  aiding  and  en- 
couraging the  penitent  to  remove  them,  and  in  teaching  how 
the  interior  movements  of  the  Holy  Spirit  may  be  recognized, 
as  well  as  in  stimulating  the  soul  to  fidelity  and  docility  to  His 
movements." 

"  The  director  is  not  to  take  the  place  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in 
the  soul,  but  to  assist  His  growth  in  the  soul  as  its  primary  and 
supreme  guide." 

"  The  primary  worker  of  the  soul's  sanctification  is  the  Holy 
Spirit  acting  interiorly ;  the  work  of  the  director  is  secondary 
and  subordinate.  To  overlook  this  fundamental  truth  in  the 
spiritual  life  is  a  great  mistake,  whether  it  be  on  the  part  of  the 
director  or  the  one  under  direction." 

The  great  obstacle  to  the  prevalent  use  of  this  privilege  of 
divine  interior  direction  is  lack  of  practical  realization  of  its  ex- 
istence by  good  Christians.  And  this  want  of  faith  is  met  with 
almost  as  much  among  teachers  as  among  learners,  resulting  in 
too  great  a  mingling  of  the  human  element  in  the  guidance  of 
souls.  What  is  known  as  over  direction  is  to  be  attributed,  as 
Father  Hecker  was  persuaded,  to  confessors  leading  souls  by 
self-chosen  ways,  or  laboriously  working  them  along  the  road  to 
perfection  by  artificial  processes,  souls  whom  the  Holy  Spirit  has 
not  made  ready  for  more  than  the  beginning  of  the  spiritual  life. 
This  is  like  pressing  wine  out  of  unripe  grapes.  Another  prac- 
tice which  Father  Hecker  often  deprecated  was  the  binding  of 
free    and    generous    souls    with    all    sorts    of    obligations    in     the 


Father  Hecker's  Spiritual  Doctrine.  309 


way  of  devotional  exercises.  This  is  forcing  athletes  to  go  on 
crutches.  The  excuse  for  it  all  is  that  it  really  does  stagger 
human  belief  to  accept  as  a  literal  matter  of  fact  that  God  the 
Holy  Ghost  personally  comes  to  us  with  divine  grace  and  gives 
Himself  to  us;  that  He  actually  and  essentially  dwells  in  our 
souls  by  grace,  and  in  an  unspeakably  intimate  manner  takes 
charge  of  our  entire  being,  soul  and  body,  and  all  our  faculties 
and  senses. 

"By  sanctifying  grace,"  says  St.  Thomas  (p.  1,  q.  xxxiii. 
art.  2),  "  the  rational  creature  is  thus  perfected,  that  it  may 
not  only  use  with  liberty  the  created  good,  but  that  it  may  also 
enjoy  the  uncreated  good ;  and  therefore  the  invisible  sending  of 
the  'Holy  Ghost  takes  place  in  the  gift  of  sanctifying  grace  and 
the  Divine  Person  Himself  is  given  to  us." 

It  is  the  soul's  higher  self,  thus  in  entire  union  with  the 
Spirit  of  God,  that  Father  Hecker  spent  his  life  in  cultivating, 
both  in  his  own  interior  and  in  that  of  others.  He  insisted  that 
in  the  normal  condition  of  things  the  mainspring  of  virtue,  both 
natural  and  supernatural,  should  be  for  the  regenerate  man  the 
instinctive  obedience  of  the  individual  soul  to  the  voice  of  the 
indwelling  Holy  Spirit. 

To  what  an  extent  this  inner  divine  guidance  has  been 
obscured  by  more  external  methods  is  witnessed  by  Monsignor 
Gaume,  who  places  upon  the  title-page  of  his  learned  work  on 
the  Holy  Spirit  the  motto  "  Ignoto  Deo  " — to  the  Unknown  God  ! 

Objections  to  this  doctrine  are  made  from  the  point  of  view 
of  caution.  There  is  danger  of  exaggeration,  it  is  said  ;  for  if  in 
its  terms  it  is  plainly  Catholic,  it  may  sound  Protestant  to  some 
ears.  And  in  fact  to  those  whose  glances  have  been  ever  turned 
outward  for  guidance  it  seems  like  the  delusions  of  certain 
classes  of  Protestants  about  "change   of  heart"  and   "  inner  light." 

"  But,"  says  Lallemant  (and  the  reader  will  thank  us  for 
a  detailed  reply  to  this  difficulty  from  so  venerable  an  authority), 
"  it  is  of  faith  that  without  the  grace  of  an  interior  inspiration,  in 
which  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  consists,  we  cannot  do 
any  good  work.  The  Calvinists  would  determine  everything  by 
their  inward  spirit,  subjecting  thereto  the  Church  herself  and 
her  decisions.  .  .  .  But  the  guidance  which  we  receive  from 
the  Holy  Ghost  by  means  of  His  gifts  presupposes  the  faith 
and  authority  of  the  Church,  acknowledges  them  as  its  rule, 
admits  nothing  which   is  contrary  to   them,   and  aims  only  at   per- 


310  The  Life  of  Fat 'he v  Hecker. 

fecting  the  exercise  of  faith  and  the  other  virtues.  The  second 
objection  is,  that  it  seems  as  if  this  interior  guidance  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  were  destructive  of  the  obedience  due  to  superiors.  We 
reply:  I.  That  as  the  interior  inspiration  of  grace  does  not  set 
aside  the  assent  which  we  give  to  the  articles  of  faith  as  they  are 
externally  proposed  to  us,  but  on  the  contrary  gently  disposes 
the  mind  to  believe ;  in  like  manner  the  guidance  which  we 
receive  from  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  far  from  interfering 
with  obedience,  aids  and  facilitates  the  practice  of  it.  2.  That 
all  this  interior  guidance,  and  even  [private]  divine  revelations, 
must  always  be  subordinate  to  obedience ;  and  in  speaking 
of  them  this  tacit  condition  is  ever  implied,  that  obedience  en- 
joins nothing  contrary  thereto. 

"  The  third  objection  is  that  this  interior  direction  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  seems  to  render  all  deliberation  and  all  counsel 
useless.  For  why  ask  advice  of  men  when  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
Himself  our  director?  We  reply  that  the  Holy  Spirit  teaches  us 
to  consult  enlightened  persons  and  to  follow  the  advice  of  others, 
as  He  referred  St.  Paul  to  Ananias,  The  fourth  objection  is 
made  by  some  who  complain  that  they  are  not  themselves  thus 
led  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  that  they  know  nothing  of  it.  To 
them  we  reply:  I.  That  the  lights  and  inspirations  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  which  are  necessary  in  order  to  do  good  and  avoid 
evil,  are  never  wanting  to  them,  particularly  if  they  are  in  a 
state  of  grace.  2.  That  being  altogether  exterior  as  they  are, 
and  scarcely  ever  entering  into  themselves,  examining  their  con- 
sciences only  very  superficially,  and  looking  only  to  the  outward 
man  and  the  faults  which  are  manifest  in  the  eyes  of  the  world, 
it  is  no  wonder  that  they  have  nothing  of  the  guid- 
ance of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  is  wholly  interior.  But,  first,  let 
them  be  faithful  in  following  the  light  which  is  given  them  ;  it 
will  go  on  always  increasing.  Secondly,  let  them  clear  away 
the  sins  and  imperfections  which,  like  so  many  clouds,  hide  the 
light  from  their  eyes:  they  will  see  more  distinctly  every  day. 
Thirdly,  let  them  not  suffer  their  exterior  senses  to  rove  at  will, 
and  be  soiled  by  indulgence  ;  God  will  then  open  to  them  their 
interior  senses.  Fourthly,  let  them  never  quit  their  own  interior, 
if  it  be  possible,  or  let  them  return  as  soon  as  may  hi  ;  let  them 
give  attention  to  what  passes  therein,  and  they  will  observe  the 
workings  of  the  different  spirits  by  which  we  are  actuated. 
Fifthly,  let  them  lay  bare  the  whole  ground  of  their  heart  to 
their  superior  or  to  their  spiritual  father.  A  soul  which  acts 
with  this  openness  and  simplicity  can  hardly  fail  of  being  favored 
with  the  direction  of  the  Holy  Spirit"  {Spiritual  Doctrine,  4th 
principle,   ch.   i.  art.   3). 

Father  Hecker   had  himself  suffered,    and  that    in    the   earliest 


Father  Hecker  s  Spiritual  Doctrine.  311 


days  of  his  religious  life,  from  want  of  explicit  instruction 
about  this  doctrine.  Father  Othmann,  whom  our  readers  remem- 
ber as  the  novice-master  at  St.  Trond,  was  too  spiritual  a  man  to 
have  been  ignorant  of  its  principles.  Yet  he  seemed  to  think 
th.it  either  no  one  would  choose  it  in  preference  to  the  method 
in  more  common  use,  or  that  he  would  not  find  his  novices  ready 
for  it.  But  to  Father  Hecker  it  was  all-essential.  "  When  I 
was  not  far  from  being  through  with  my  noviceship,"  he  was 
heard  to  say,  "  I  was  one  day  looking  over  the  books  in  the 
library  and  I  came  across  Lallemant's  Spiritual  Doctrine.  Getting 
leave  to  read  it,  I  was  overjoyed  to  find  it  a  full  statement  of 
the  principles  by  which  I  had  been  interiorly  guided.  I  said  to 
Pere  Othmann  :  '  Why  did  you  not  give  me  this  book  when  I 
first  came?  It  settles  all  my  difficulties.'  But  he  answered  that 
it  had  never  once  occurred  to  his  mind  to  do  so."  Besides  the 
Scriptures,  Lallemant,  Surin,  Scaramelli's  Dircctoriiim  Mysticum, 
the  ascetical  and  mystical  writings  of  the  contemplatives,  such  as 
Rusbruck,  Henry  Suso  (whose  life  he  carried  for  years  in  his 
pocket,  reading  it  daily),  Tauler,  Father  Augustine  Baker's  Holy 
Wisdom  (Sancta  Sophia),  Blosius,  the  works  of  St.  Teresa,  and 
those  of  St.  John  of  the  Cross — these  and  other  such  works 
formed  the  literature  which  aided  Father  Hecker  in  the  under- 
standing and  enjoyment  of  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Lallemant  he  returned  to  ever  and  again,  and  St.  John  of  the 
Cross  he  never  let  go  at  all.  It  was  always  with  him,  always 
read  with  renewed  joy,  and  its  wonderful  lessons  of  divine  wis- 
dom, expressed  as  they  are  with  the  scientific  accuracy  of  a 
trained  theologian  and  the  unction  of  a  saint,  were  to  Father 
Hecker  a  pledge  of  security  for  his  own  state  of  soul  and  a 
source    of  inspiration  in  dealing  with  others. 

To  the  ordinary  observer  a  knowledge  of  the  men  and 
women  of  to-day  does  not  give  rise  to  much  hope  of  the  wide- 
spread use  of  this  spirituality.  But  Father  Hecker  thought  other- 
wise. He  ever  insisted  that  it  must  come  into  general  prefer- 
ence among  the  leading  minds  of  Christendom ;  for  independence 
of  character  calls  for  such  a  spirituality,  and  that  independence  is 
by  God's  providence  the  characteristic  trait  of  the  best  men  and 
women  of  our  times.  God  must  mean  to  sanctify  us  in  the  way 
He  has  placed  us  in  the  natural  order.  He  believed  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  would  soon  be  poured  out  in  an  abundant  dispensa- 
tion   of    His    heavenly  gifts,  and    that    such  a    renewal    of    men's 


312  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

souls  was  the  only  salvation  of  society.  Some  may  think  that 
he  was  over- sanguine  ;  many  will  not  interest  themselves  in  such 
"  high "  matters  at  all.  But  some  of  the  wisest  men  in  the 
Church  are  of  his  mind,  notably  Cardinal  Manning.  And  the 
signs  of  the  times,  if  interrogated  with  regard  to  the  problem 
of  man's  eternal  destiny,  give  no  other  answer  than  the  promise 
of  a  new  era  in  which  the  Holy  Ghost  shall  reign  in  men's 
souls  and  in  their  lives  with  a  supremacy  peculiar  to  this  age. 
The  following  extract  from  The  Church  and  the  Age,  a  com- 
pilation of  Father  Hecker's  later  essays,  shows  his  estimate  of 
the  form  of  spirituality  we  have  been  discussing,  as  bearing  upon 
the  regeneration  of  society  in  general : 

"The  whole  aim  of  the  science  of  Christian  perfection  is  to 
instruct  men  how  to  remove  the  hindrances  in  the  way  of  the 
action  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  how  to  cultivate  those  virtues 
which  are  most  favorable  to  His  solicitations  and  inspirations. 
Thus  the  sum  of  spiritual  life  consists  in  observing  and  yielding 
to  the  movements  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  our  soul,  employing 
for  this  purpose  all  the  exercises  of  prayer,  spiritual  reading,  the 
practice  of  virtues,  and  good  works. 

"  That  divine  action  which  is  the  immediate  and  principal 
cause  of  the  salvation  and  perfection  of  the  soul,  claims  by  right 
the  soul's  direct  and  main  attention.  From  this  source  within 
the  soul  there  will  gradually  come  to  birth  the  consciousness  of 
the  indwelling  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  out  of  which  will 
spring  a  force  surpassing  all  human  strength,  a  courage  higher 
than  all  human  heroism,  a  sense  of  dignity  excelling  all  human 
greatness.  The  light  the  age  requires  for  its  renewal  can  come 
only  from  the  same  source.  The  renewal  of  the  age  depends  on 
the  renewal  of  religion.  The  renewal  of  religion  depends  on  a 
greater  effusion  of  the  creative  and  renewing  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  The  greater  effusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit  depends  on  the 
giving  of  increased  attention  to  His  movements  and  inspirations 
in  the  soul.  The  radical  and  adequate  remedy  for  all  the  evils 
of  our  age,  and  the  source  of  all  true  progress,  consist  in  in- 
creased attention  and  fidelity  to  the  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in 
the  soul.  '  Thou  shalt  send  forth  Thy  spirit  and  they  shall  be 
created:  and  Thou  shalt  renew  the  face  of  the  earth.'" 

Lallemant's    answer    to    the    difficulty    of  excess    of    personal 


Father  Hcckcrs  Spiritual  Doctrine.  313 


liberty  in  this  method  has  been  already  given.      Father    Hecker's 
own  is  as  follows  : 

"  The  enlargement  of  the  [interior]  field  of  action  for  the 
soul,  without  a  true  knowledge  of  the  end  and  scope  of  the  ex- 
ternal authority  of  the  Church,  would  only  open  the  door  to 
delusions,  errors,  and  heresies  of  every  description,  and  would 
be  in  effect  only  another  form  of  Protestantism.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  exclusive  view  of  the  external  authority  of  the 
Church,  without  a  proper  understanding  of  the  nature  and  work 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  soul,  would  render  the  practice  of  re- 
ligion   formal,  obedience  servile,    and    the  Church    sterile. 

"  The  solution  of  the  difficulty  is  as  follows  :  The  action  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  embodied  visibly  in  the  authority  of  the  Church, 
and  the  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  dwelling  invisibly  in  the  soul 
form  one  inseparable  synthesis;  and  he  who  has  not  a  clear  con- 
ception of  this  two-fold  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  in  danger 
of  running  into  one  or  the  other,  and  sometimes  into  both,  of 
these  extremes,  either  of  which  is  destructive  of  the  end  of  the 
Church.  The  Holy  Spirit,  in  the  external  authority  of  the  Church, 
acts  as  the  infallible  interpreter  and  criterion  of  divine  revela- 
tion. The  Holy  Spirit  in  the  soul  acts  as  the  divine  Life- 
giver  and  Sanctifier.  It  is  of  the  highest  importance  that  these 
two  distinct  offices  of  the  Holy  Spirit  should  not  be  con- 
founded. 

"  The  increased  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  with  a  more  vigorous 
co-operation  on  the  part  of  the  faithful,  which  is  in  process  of 
realization,  will  elevate  the  human  personality  to  an  intensity 
of  force  and  grandeur  productive  of  a  new  era  to  the  Church 
and  to  society — an  era  difficult  for  the  imagination  to  grasp, 
and  still  more  difficult  to  describe  in  words,  unless  we  have 
recourse   to    the   prophetic   language    of  the  inspired   Scriptures." 

"The  way  out  of  our  present  difficulties,"  said  Father  Hecker, 
speaking  of  the  conflicts  of  religion  in  Europe,  "  is  to  revert 
to  a  spirituality  which  is  freer  than  that  which  Providence 
assigned  as  the  counteraction  of  Protestantism  in  the  sixteenth 
century — to  a  spirituality  which  is,  and  ever  has  been,  the  normal 
one  of  the  Christian  inner  life.  That  era  accentuated  obedience, 
this  accentuates  no  particular  moral  virtue,  but  rather  presses  the 
soul  back  upon  Faith  and  Hope  and  Love  as  the  springs  of  life, 
and  makes  the  distinctive  virtue  fidelity  to    the   guidance    of   the 


314  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 

Holy  Spirit,  imp:lling  the  Christian  to  that  one  of  the  moral 
virtues  which  is  most  suitable  to  his  nature  and  to  the  require- 
ments of  his  state  of  life,  and  other  environments." 

But  from  what  has  been  said  it  must  not  be  inferred  that 
Father  Hecker  thought  it  safe  to  be  without  spiritual  counsel, 
above  all  when  the  soul  seemed  led  in  extraordinary  ways.  He 
firmly  believed  in  the  necessity  of  direction,  and  that  in  the 
sense  intended  by  spiritual  writers  generally.  In  practice  he 
himself  always  consulted  men  of  experience  and  piety.  We  have 
seen  how  he  sought  advice,  and  was  aided  by  it  at  every  crisis 
of  his  life.  But  he  did  not  accept  all  that  is  said  by  some  writers 
about  the  surrender  of  the  soul  to  one's  father  confessor.  He 
thought  that  confession  was  often  too  closely  allied  with  direction, 
and  he  was  convinced  that  many  souls  could  profit  by  lesj  intro- 
spection in  search  of  sin,  and  more  in  search  of  natural  and 
supernatural  movements  to  virtue.  He  condemned  over-direction, 
and  thought  that  there  was  a  good  deal  of  it.  He  thought  that  there 
were  cases  in  which  spontaneity  of  effort  was  too  high  a  price  to 
pay  for  even  the  merit  of  obedience.  His  sentiment  is  well 
expressed  by  St.  John  of  the  Cross  in  the  ninth  chapter  of  The 
Ascent   of  Mount    Carmel  : 

"  Spiritual  directors  are  not  the  chief  workers,  but  rather  the 
Holy  Ghost;  they  are  mere  instruments,  only  to  guide  souls  by 
the  rule  of  faith  and  the  law  of  God  according  to  the  spirit  which 
God  gives  to  each.  Their  object,  therefore,  should  be  not  to 
guide  souls  by  a  way  of  their  own,  suitable  to  themselves  ;  but 
to  ascertain,  if  they  can,  the  way  which  God  Himself  is  guiding 
them." 

Leave  much  to  God's  secret  ways,  was  one  of  Father  Hecker's 
principles.  "  When  hearing  some  confessions  on  the  missions,"  he 
once  said,  "  and  when  about  to  give  absolution,  I  used  to  say, 
in  my  heart,  to  the  penitent,  Well,  no  doubt  God  means  to  save 
you,  you  poor  fellow,  or  He  wouldn't  give  you  the  grace  to 
make  this  mission.  But  just  how  He  will  do  it,  considering  your 
bad  habits,  I  can't  see;  but  that's   none  of  my  business." 

Leave  much  to  natural  or  acquired  inclinations,  was  one  of 
his  maxims.  He  was  not  deeply  interested  in  souls  who  by 
temperament  or  training  needed  very  minute  guidance  in  the 
spiritual  life  ;   to  him  they  seemed  so  overloaded  with    harness  as 


Father  Hcckers  Spiritual  Doctrine.  315 


to  have  no  great  strength  left  for  pulling  the  chariot.  But  he 
would  not  interfere  with  them;  he  knew  that  it  was  of  little  avail 
to  try  to  change  such  methods  once  they  had  become  habitual; 
and  he  recognized  that  there  were  many  who  could  never  get 
along  without  them.  At  any  rate  he  was  tolerant  by  nature, 
and  slow  to  condemn  in  general  or  particular  anything  useful  to 
well-meaning  souls. 

"  It  is  vain  to  rise  before  the  light,"  was  another  motto. 
"  Make  no  haste  in  the  time  of  clouds."  These  two  texts  of 
Scripture  he  was  fond  of  repeating.  "  When  God  shows  the 
way,"  he  once  said,  "you  will  see;  no  amount  of  peering  in  the 
dark  will  bring  the  sun  over  the  hills.  Pray  for  light,  but  don't 
move  an  inch  before  you  get  it.  When  it  comes,  go  ahead  with 
all  your  might."  Self-imposed  penances,  self-assumed  devotional 
practices  he  mistrusted.  He  was  convinced  that  the  only  way 
sure  to  succeed,  and  to  succeed  perfectly,  was  either  that  shown 
by  an  interior  attraction  too  powerful  and  too  peaceful  to  be 
other  than  divine,  or  one  pointed  out  by  the  lawful  external 
authority  in  the  Church. 

When  asked  for  advice  on  matters  of  conscience  his  decisions 
were  generally  quick  and  always  simple.  Yet  he  often  refused 
to  decide  without  time  for  prayer  and  thought,  saying,  "  I  have 
no  lights  on  this  matter ;  you  must  give  me  time."  And  not 
seldom  he  refused  to  decide  altogether  for  the  same  reason.  One 
thing  annoyed  him  much,  and  that  was  the  blank  silence  and 
stupid  wonder  with  which  some  instructed  Catholics  listened  to 
him  as  he  spoke  of  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  the  way 
of  Christian  perfection,  treating  it  as  beyond  the  reach  of 
ordinary  mortals,  intricate  in  its  rules,  "mystical,"  and  visionary ; 
whereas  Father  Hecker  knew  it  to  be  the  one  only  simple 
method,  with  a  minimum  of  rules,  useful  for  all,  readily  under- 
stood. What  follows  is  a  brief  outline  of  the  entire  doctrine  in 
its  practical  use  in  the  progress  of  the  soul  from  a  sinful  life 
onwards  ;  we  have  found  it  among  his  memoranda  : 

"  What  must  one  do  in  order  to  favor  the  reception  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  secure  fidelity  to  His  guidance  when  received  ? 
First  receive  the  Sacraments,  the  divinely  instituted  channels  of 
grace  :  one  will  scarcely  persevere  in  living  in  the  state  of  grace, 
to  say  nothing  of  securing  a  close  union  with  God,  who 
receives  Holy  Communion    only    once    or  twice  a  year.      Second, 


316  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


practise  prayer,  above  all  that  highest  form  of  prayer,  assisting 
at  Holy  Mass ;  then  mental  and  vocal  prayer,  the  public  offices 
of  the  Church,  and  particular  devotions  according  to  one's 
attrait.  Third,  read  spiritual  books  daily — the  Bible,  Lives  of  the 
Saints,  Following  of  Christ,  Spiritual  Combat,  etc.  But  in  all 
this  bear  ever  in  mind,  that  the  steady  impelling  force  by  which 
one  does  each  of  these  outward  things  is  the  inner  and  secret 
prompting  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  that  perseverance  in  the  mis 
secured  by  no  other  aid  except  the  same  Jiidden  inspiration. 
Cherish  that  above  all,  therefore,  and  in  every  stage  of  the 
spiritual  life  ;  be  most  obedient  to  it,  seeking  meantime  for  good 
counsel  wherever    it    is   likely    to    be    had." 

Father  Hecker  was  of  opinion  that  a  larger  number  of  per- 
sons can  be  led  to  perfection  than  is  generally  supposed,  and 
he  would  sound  the  call  in  the  ears  of  Christians  generally 
far  more  than  is  commonly  done.  He  was  also  persuaded 
that  there  are  many  souls  whose  whole  lives  have  been  entirely, 
or  almost  entirely,  free  from  the  taint  of  mortal  sin,  and  these 
he  considered  should  be  the  most  active  spirits  among  Chris- 
tians. He  thought  that  more  room  should  be  made  for  them 
in  our  discourses,  and  that  everybody  should  not  be  lumped 
together  in  one  mass  as  hardened  sinners  or  as  penitents. 

To  these  innocent  men  and  women  the  mediatorship  of  Christ 
should  be  made  as  distinct  as  possible,  the  elevation  of  the  soul 
to  divine  union  through  the  Incarnation  brought  out  fully,  and 
the  redemption  of  man  from  sin  and  hell  be  included  in  it,  and 
be  absorbed  by  it.  Too  many  souls  who  have  never  sinned 
mortally  fail  to  struggle  for  perfection,  Father  Hecker  often 
said,  because  they  never  have  heard  any  invitation  but  the  call  to 
repentance.  The  positive  side  of  Christianity  is  the  Incarnation, 
which  lifts  all  men  of  good- will,  repentant  and  innocent  alike,  into 
participation  with  the  Deity.  Father  Hecker  would  talk  by  the 
hour  of  the  need  of  bringing  that  view  of  our  Lord's  mission 
most  prominently  forward,  the  idea  of  redemption  applying  to 
innocent  souls  only  on  account  of  original  sin,  and  by  sympa- 
thy with  their  brethren  infected  by  actual  sin.  And  he  would 
show  that  even  hard  sinners  could  often  be  brought  to  a  good 
life  more  surely,  and  be  enabled  more  certainly  to  persevere,  by 
forcibly  emphasizing  the  Incarnation  and  its  benefits  than  by 
any    other  method.     Their  blindness  and  selfishness    hinder    hard 


Fat  lie  r  Hecker  s  Spiritual  Doctrine.  317 


sinners    from    easily  appreciating    our  Lord's    sufferings    as    borne 
on    their    account.      Father     Hecker     regretted     that    the    idea    of 
redemption   was  so    often    presented    in    a    way    to  give    the    im- 
pression that  atonement  was    the  whole    office    of    Christ.     There 
are    many    souls    for     whom    access    to    Christ     as    Mediator    was 
more  in  consonance  with  the  truth  than    access    to    Him    as    Re- 
deemer, Mediator  in  that    case    including   Redeemer,    rather    than 
the  Redeemer  absorbing  the  idea  of  Mediator.     Redemption  from 
original  sin   is,  of  course,  necessary  to  the  mediatorship   of  a  fallen 
race.     But  our  Lord  became  Redeemer  that  he  might  be  Mediator; 
he    cleansed    us  from    sin  that   he   might  lift  us  up   to   the    God- 
head;   and    in    many    souls    Father    Hecker   knew    that    the    pro- 
cess of  cleansing  began  and  ended    with  original    sin  and    venial 
sins.     Such    souls    often    go    their  lives  long   with    no    compelling 
stimulus  to   perfection,  because    they  cannot    apply    to    themselves 
the  accusations  of  sin   commonly  put   into    the  directions    for   be- 


ginners. 


Much  has  been  already  said  of  the  aids  to  perfection  which 
Father  Hecker  perceived  in  a  right  use  of  the  liberty  and  in- 
telligence of  our  times.  He  also  insisted  that  the  commercial 
and  industrial  features  of  our  civilization  were  no  obstacles  to  a 
high  state  of  Christian  perfection. 

In  a  remarkable  sermon,  entitled  "  The  Saint  of  Our  Day," 
published  in  the  third  volume  of  the  Paulist  series,  Father 
Hecker,  after  making  a  powerful  exposition  of  the  advantages 
of  liberty  and  intelligence  as  helps  to  the  interior  life,  insists 
that  the  opportunities  and  responsibilities  peculiar  to  our  civiliza- 
tion are  capable  of  being  sanctified  to  the  highest  degree.  The 
model  he  proposes  in  this  sermon  is  St.  Joseph.  He  was  no 
martyr,  yet    showed   a  martyr's  fidelity  by  his  trust  in  God. 

"  Called  by  the  voice  of  God  to  leave  his  friends,  home,  and 
country,  he  obeys  instantly  and  without  a  murmur.  To  find 
God  and  to  be  one  with  God,  a  solitary  life  in  the  desert  was 
not  necessary  to  St.  Joseph.  He  was  in  the  world  and  found 
God  where  he  was.  He  sanctified  his  work  by  carrying  God 
with  him  into  the  workshop.  St.  Joseph  was  no  flower  of  the 
desert  or  plant  of  the  cloister ;  he  found  the  means  of  perfec- 
tion in  the  world,  and  consecrated  it  to  God  by  making  its  cares 
and  duties  subservient  to  divine  purposes. 

"  The  house  of  St.  Joseph    was  his    cloister,  and  in  the  bosom 


318  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 

of  his  family  he  practised  the  sublimest  virtues.  While  occupied 
with  the  common  daily  duties  of  life  his  mind  was  fixed  on  the 
contemplation  of  divine  truths,  thus  breathing  into  all  his 
actions  a  heavenly  influence.  He  attained  in  society  and  in 
human  relationships  a  degree  of  perfection  not  surpassed,  if 
equalled,  by  the  martyr's  death,  the  contemplative  of  the  soli- 
tude, the  cloistered  monk,  or  the  missionary  hero. 

"  Our  age  is  not  an  age  of  martyrdom,  nor  an  age  of  her- 
mits, nor  a  monastic  age.  Although  it  has  its  martyrs,  its 
recluses,  and  its  monastic  communities,  these  are  not,  and  are 
not  likely  to  be,  its  prevailing  types  of  Christian  perfection.  Our 
age  lives  in  its  busy  marts,  in  counting-rooms,  in  workshops,  iri 
homes,  and  in  the  varied  relations  that  form  human  society,  and 
it  is  into  these  that  sanctity  is  to  be  introduced.  St.  Joseph 
stands  forth  as  an  excellent  and  unsurpassed  model  of  this  type 
of  perfection.  These  duties  and  these  opportunities  must  be 
made  instrumental  in  sanctifying  the  soul.  For  it  is  the  difficul- 
ties and  the  hindrances  that  men  find  in  cheir  age  which  give 
the  form  to  their  character  and  habits,  and  when  mastered  be- 
come the  means  of  divine  grace  and  their  titles  to  glory. 
Indicate  these,  and  you  portray  that  type  of  sanctity  in  which 
the  life  of  the    Church  will  find    its    actual  and  living  expression. 

"  This,  then,  is  the  field  of  conquest  for  the  heroic  Christian 
of  our  day.  Out  of  the  cares,  toils,  duties,  afflictions,  and  re- 
sponsibilities of  daily  life  are  to  be  built  the  pillars  of  sanctity 
of  the  Stylites  of  our  age.  This  is  the  coming  form  of  the 
triumph  of  Christian   virtue." 

With  all,  moreover,  Father  Hecker  insisted  on  the  practice  of 
the  natural  virtues,  honesty,  temperance,  truthfulness,  kindliness, 
courage,  and  manliness  generally,  as  preceding  any  practical  move 
towards  the  higher  life.  He  first  explored  the  character  and 
life  of  his  penitent  in  search  of  what  natural  power  he  had,  and 
then  demanded  its  full  exertion.  He  began  with  the  natural 
man,  and  made  every  supernatural  force  in  the  sacraments  and 
prayer  aid  in  establishing  and  increasing  natural  virtue  as  a 
necessary  preliminary  and  ever-present  accompaniment  of  super- 
natural progress.  Perhaps  Father  Hecker's  antipathy  to  Calvin- 
ism sharpened  his  zeal  for  the  natural  virtues,  and  strengthened 
his  advocacy  of  human  innocence.  The  craving  for  the  super- 
natural, he  was  convinced,  would    be  strong  in   proportion  to  the 


hat  her  Hecker's   Spiritual  Doctrine.  319 


enlightenment  of  the  natural  reason  ;  the  need  of  the  grace  of 
God  is,  of  course,  most  urgent  in  a  sinful  state,  but  it  would  be 
more  quickly  perceived  in  proportion  to  the  possession  of  natural 
virtue.  As  the  exercise  of  reason  is  necessary  to  faith  and  pre- 
cedes its  acts,  so  the  integrity  of  natural  virtue  is  the  best  pre- 
paration for  the  grace  of  God.  Many  pages  of  The  Aspirations 
of  Nature,  from  which  the  following  brief  quotations  are  made, 
are  devoted  to  the  dignity  of  humanity  and  the  need  of  placing 
the  excellence  of  human  nature  in  the  foreground  when  con- 
sidering  how  man  may  attain  to  a  high  supernatural  state : 

"  Every  faculty  of  the  soul,  rightly  exercised,  leads  to  truth  ; 
every  instinct  of  our  nature  has  an  eternal  destiny  attached  to 
it.  Catholicity  finds  its  support  in  these  and  employs  them  in  all 
her  developments." 

"  The  Catholic  religion  is  wonderfully  calculated  and  adapted 
to  call  forth,  sustain,  and  perfect  the  tastes,  propensities,  and 
peculiarities  of  human  nature.  And  let  no  one  venture  to  say 
that  these  characteristics  which  are  everywhere  found  among  men 
are  to  be  repressed  rather  than  encouraged.  This  is  to  despise 
human  nature,  this  is  to  mar  the  work  of  God.  For  are  not 
these  peculiarities  inborn  ?  Are  they  not  implanted  in  us  by 
the  hand  of  our  Creator  ?  Are  they  not  what  go  to  constitute 
our  very  individuality?" 

Humanity  is  a  word  of  vague  meaning  to  most  ears,  but  to 
Father  Hecker  its  meaning  was  a  living  thing  of  value  second 
only  to  Christianity.  Here  is  his  summary  of  the  relation  of 
Catholicity  to  human  nature,  taken  from  the  same  source  as  the 
foregoing : 

"  Catholicity  is  that  religion  which  links  itself  to  all  the  facul- 
ties of  the  mind,  appropriates  all  the  instincts  of  human  nature, 
and  by  thus  concurring  with  the  work  of  the  Creator  affirms  its 
own  Divine  origin." 

We  give  the  following  extracts  from  letters  of  spiritual  ad- 
vice, to  show  Father  Hecker's  views  of  mortification  : 

"Exterior  mortifications  are  aids  to  interior  life.  What  we 
take  from  the  body  we  give  to  the  spirit.  If  we  will  look  at  it 
closely,  two-thirds  of   our  time    is  taken  up    with    what  we   shall 


320  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


eat,  and  how  we  shall  sleep,  and  wherewithal  we  shall  be  clothed. 
Two-thirds  of  our  life  and  more  is  animal — including  sleep. 
I  do  not  despise  the  animal  in  man,  but  I  go  in  for  fair  play 
for  the  soul.  The  better  part  should  have  the  greater  share. 
The  right  order  of  things  has  been  reversed  :  twz-version  is 
necessary.  Read  the  lives  of  the  old  Fathers  of  the  Desert. 
They  determined  on  leading  a  rational  and  divine  life.  How 
little  are  they  known  or  appreciated  in  our  day !  Their  lives  are 
more    interesting   than  a  novel  and  stranger  than  a  romance." 

"  Self-love,  self-activity,  self- hood,  is  something  not  easily  de- 
stroyed. It  is  like  a  cancer  which  has  its  roots  extending  to  the 
most  delicate  fibres  of  our  mental  and .  moral  nature.  Divine 
grace  can  draw  them  all  out.  But  how  slowly !  And  how  ex- 
quisitely painful  is  the  process — the  more  subtle  the  self-love 
the    more    painful  the  cure." 

"  Never  practise  any  mortification  of  a  considerable  character 
without  counsel.  The  devil,  when  he  can  no  longer  keep  us 
back,  aims  at  driving    us    too    far  and    too  fast." 

"  How  can  the  intellect  be  brought  under  direction  of  divine 
grace  except  by  reducing  it  to  its  nothingness  ? — and  how  can  this 
be  done  except  by  placing  it  in  utter  darkness  ?  How  can  the 
heart  be  filled  with  the  spirit  of  divine  love  while  it  contains  any 
other?  How  can  it  be  purified  of  all  other  inordinate  love  ex- 
cept by  dryness  and  bitterness  ?  God  wishes  to  fill  our  intelli- 
gence and  our  hearts  with  divine  light  and  love,  and  thus  to  deify 
our  whole  nature — to  make  us  one  with  what  we  represent — God. 
And  how  can  He  do  this  otherwise  than  by  removing  from  our 
soul  and  its  faculties  all  that  is  contrary  to  the  divine  order?" 

"  All  your  difficulties  are  favors  from  God  ;  you  see  them  on 
the  wrong  side,  and  speak  as  the  block  of  marble  would  while 
being  chiselled  by  the  sculptor.  When  God  purifies  the  soul,  it 
cries  out  just  like  little  children  do  when  their  faces  are  washed. 
The  soul's  attention  must  be  withdrawn  from  external,  created 
things  and  turned  inward  towards  God  exclusively  before  its 
union  with  Him  ;  and  this  transformation  is  a  great,  painful,  and 
wonderful  work,  and  so  much  the  more  difficult  and  painful  as 
the  soul's  attention  has  been  attracted  and  attached  to  transitory 
things — to   creatures." 

He  was  often  heard  repeating  the  following  verse  from  The 
Imitation    (book  iii.  chap,  xxxi.),  as    summarizing    the     necessary 


Father  Hecker's  Spiritual  Doctrine.  321 


conditions  of  the  active  life :  "  Unless  a  man  be  elevated  in 
spirit,  and  set  at  liberty  from  all  creatures,  and  wholly  united  to 
God,  whatever  he  knows  and  whatever  he  has  is  of  no  great 
weight."  He  wrote  to  a  friend  that  he  had  studied  that  verse  for 
thirty  years  and  still  found  that  he  did  not  know  all  it  meant. 

We  give  what  follows  as  characteristic  of  Father  Hecker's 
manner  as  a  director  : 

"  At  first,  in  all  your  deliberate  actions,  calm  your  mind, 
place  yourself  in  the  attitude  of  a  receiver  or  listener,  and  then 
decide.      Imperceptibly  and  insensibly  grace    will  guide  you." 

"  Don't  care  what  people  say  ;  keep  your  own  counsel.  Use 
your  own  sense  and  abound  in  it  ;  as  the  apostle  says:  'Let 
every  one  abound  in  his  own  sense.'  Don't  try  to  get  anybody 
to  agree  with  you.  No  two  noses  are  alike,  much  less  souls. 
God  never  repeats." 

"  Nobody  nowadays  wants  God.  Every  one  has  the  whole 
world  on  his  shoulders,  and  unless  his  own  petty  ideas  and 
schemes  are  adopted  and  succeed,  he  prophesies  the  end  of  the 
world.  You  are  on  the  right  road — push  on  !  Our  maxim  is : 
Be  sure  you  are  right  and  then  go  ahead  !  " 

"  How  much  that  is  good  and  noble  in  the  soul  is  smother- 
ed by  unwise  restraint  !  The  whole  object  of  restraint  is  to  re- 
ject that  which  is  false  and  to  correct  the  preference  given  to  a 
lower  good  instead  of  to  a  higher  one.  As  for  the  rest — free- 
dom /" 

"  I  know  a  man  who  thinks  he  don't  know  anything — who 
every  day  knows  that  he  knows  less  ;  and  who  hopes  to  know 
nothing  before  he  dies.  O  blessed  emptiness  which  fills  us  with 
all  !  O  happy  poverty  which  possesses  all  !  O  beatified  noth- 
ingness which  can  exclaim,   Dens    incus  ct  omnia  !  " 

It  will  have  been  seen  by  this  time  that  Father  Hecker's 
first  and  fundamental  rule  of  direction  was  to  have  as  little 
of  it  as  possible.  His  method  started  out  with  the  purpose  to 
do  away  with  method  at  the  earliest  moment  it  could  safe- 
ly be  done.  To  be  Father  Hecker's  penitent  meant  the  privi- 
lege of  sooner  or  later  being  nobody's  penitent  but  the  Holy 
Ghost's.     The    following  rules    of    direction    he  printed     in   1887  : 

"  The  work  of  the  priesthood  is  to  help  to  guide  the  Christian 
people,  understanding  that  God  is  always  guiding  them  interiorly. 


322  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

"An  innocent  soul  we  must  guide,  fully  understanding  that 
God  is  dwelling  within  him  ;    not  as  a  substitute  for  God. 

"  A  repentant  sinner  we  must  guide,  understanding  that  we 
are  but  restoring  him  to    God's  guidance. 

"  The  best  that  we  can  do  for  any  Christian  is  to  quicken 
his  sense  of  fidelity  to  God  speaking  to  him  in  an  enlightened 
conscience. 

"  Now,  God's  guidance  is  of  two  kinds  :  one  is  that  of  His 
external  providence  in  the  circumstances  of  life  ;  the  other  is 
interior,  and  is  the  direct  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  hu- 
man   soul.      There  is    great  danger    in    separating  these  two. 

"  The  key  to  many  spiritual  problems  is  found  in  this  truth : 
The  direct  action  of  God  upon  the  soul,  which  is  interior,  is  in 
harmony  with  his  external  providence.  Sanctity  consists  in  mak- 
ing them  identical  as  motives  for  every  thought,  word,  and 
deed  of  our  lives.  The  external  and  the  internal  (and  the  same 
must  be  said  of  the  natural  and  supernatural)  are  one  in  God, 
and  the  consciousness  of  them  both  is  to  be  made  one  divine 
whole  in  man.     To  do  this    requires  an    heroic  life-sanctity. 

"  All  the  sacraments  of  the  Church,  her  authority,  prayer 
both  mental  and  vocal,  spiritual  reading,  exercises  of  mortifica- 
tion and  of  devotion,  have  for  their  end  and  purpose  to  lead  the 
soul  to  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  St.  Alphonsus  says  in 
his  letters  that  the  first  director  of  the  soul  is  the  Holy  Ghost 
Himself. 

"  It  is  never  to  be  forgotten  that  one  man  can  never  be  a 
guide  to  another  except  as  leading  him  to  his  only  Divine 
Guide. 

"  The  guide  of  the  soul  is  the  Holy  Spirit  Himself,  and  the 
criterion  or  test  of  possessing  that  guide  is  the  Divine  authority 
of  the  Church." 

What  follows  was  published  by  Father  Hecker  in  The  Catholic 

World  in   1887.     It   throws  new    light  on  the   questions  we   have 

been    considering,  abounding    in    practical  rules  of  direction,  and 

therefore,  though  somewhat  long,  we  venture  to  close  the  chapter 

with  it : 

"  '  If  any  one  shall  say  that  without  the  previous  inspiration  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  and  His  aid,  a  man  can  believe,  hope,  love,  or 
repent  as  he  should,  so  that  the  grace  of  justification  may  be  con- 
ferred upon  him,  let  him  be  anathema.' 


Father  Hecker's  Spiritual  Doctrine.  323 


"  These  are  the  words  of  the  holy  Council  of  Trent,  in  which 
the  Catholic  Church  infallibly  teaches  that  without  an  interior 
movement  of  the  indwelling  Holy  Spirit  no  act  of  the  soul  can 
be  meritorious  of  heaven.  This  doctrine,  embodying  the  plain 
sense  of  Holy  Scripture  and  the  unbroken  teaching  of  the  Church 
in  all  ages,  bases  human  justification  on  an  interior  impulse  of  the 
Third  Person  of  the  Divine  Trinity.  This  impulse  precedes  the 
soul's  acts  of  faith,  hope,  and  love,  and  of  sorrow  for  sin  :  the 
first  stage  in  the  supernatural  career,  then,  is  the  entering  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  into  the  inner  life  of  the  soul.  The  process  of  justi- 
fication begins  by  the  divine  life  of  the  indwelling  Spirit  taking  up 
into  itself  the  human  life  of  the  soul. 

"  Nor  is  this  to  the  detriment  of  man's  liberty,  but  rather  to 
its  increase.  The  infinite  independence  of  God  and  his  divine 
liberty  are  shared  by  man  exactly  in  proportion  as  he  partakes 
of  God's  life  in  the  communication  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

"If  it  be  asked  how  the  Holy  Spirit  is  received,  the  answer 
is,  Sacramentally.  '  Unless  a  man  be  born  again  of  water  and  the 
Holy  Ghost,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God.'  As  man 
by  nature  is  a  being  of  both  outer  and  inner  life,  so,  when  made 
a  new  man  by  the  Spirit  of  God  and  elevated  into  a  supernatural 
state,  God  deals  with  him  by  both  outer  and  inner  methods. 
The  Holy  Spirit  is  received  by  the  sacramental  grace  of  bap- 
tism and  renewed  by  the  other  sarraments ;  also  in  prayer,  vocal 
or  mental,  hearing  sermons,  reading  the  Scriptures  or  devout 
books,  and  on  occasions,  extraordinary  or  ordinary,  in  the  course 
of  daily  life  ;  and  when  once  received  every  act  of  the  soul  that 
merits  heaven  is  done  by  the  inspiration  of  that  Divine  Guide 
dwelling  within  us.  Even  though  unperceived,  though  indistin- 
guishable from  impulses  of  natural  virtue,  though  imperceptibly 
multiplied  as  often  as  the  instants  are,  yet  each  movement  of 
heaven-winning  virtue,  and  especially  love,  hope,  faith,  and  re- 
pentance, is  made  because  the  Holy  Spirit  has  acted  upon  the 
soul  in  an  efficacious  manner. 

"  It  is  not  to  induce  a  strained  outlook  for  the  particular 
cases  of  -the  action  of  the  Spirit  of  God  on  us,  or  the  signs  of 
it,  that  these  words  are  written.  The  sacraments,  prayer  and  holy 
reading,  and  heajring  sermons  and  instructions,  are  the  plain,  ex- 
ternal instruments  and  accompaniments  of  the  visitations  of  God, 
and  are  sufficient  landmarks  for  the  journey  of  the  soul,  unless  it 
be  led  in  a  way  altogether  extraordinary.     And  apart  from  these 


324  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

external  marks,  no  matter  how  you  watch  for  God,  his  visitations 
are  best  known  by  their  effects  ;  it  is  after  the  cause  has  been 
placed,  perhaps  some  considerable  time  after,  that  the  faith,  hope, 
love,  or  sorrow  becomes  perceptibly  increased — always  excepting 
extraordinary  cases.  Not  to  '  resist  the  Spirit '  is  the  first  duty. 
Fidelity  to  the  divine  guidance,  yielding  one's  self  up  lovingly  to 
the  impulses  of  virtue  as  they  gently  claim  control  of  our  thoughts 
— this  is  the  simple  duty. 

"  Having  laid  down  in  broad  terms  the  fundamental  doctrine 
of  the  supernatural  life,  it  is  proper  to  say  a  word  of  the  natural 
virtues  and  of  their  relation  to  the  supernatural.  It  has  been 
already  intimated  that  the  goodness  of  nature  is  often  indistin- 
guishable from  the  holiness  of  the  supernatural  life  ;  and,  indeed,  as 
a  rule,  impulses  of  the  Holy  Spirit  first  pour  their  floods  into  the 
channels  of  natural  virtue,  thus  rendering  them  supernatural. 
These  are  mainly  the  cardinal  virtues :  Prudence,  Justice,  Fortitude, 
and  Temperance.  Practised  in  a  state  of  nature,  these  place  .us 
in  our  true  relations  with  our  nature  and  with  God's  provi- 
dence in  all  created  nature  around  us ;  these  are  the  virtues 
which  choice  souls  among  the  heathen  practised.  They  are 
not  enough.  When  they  have  done  their  utmost  they  leave 
a  void  in  the  heart  that  still  yearns  for  more.  It  is  the  pur- 
pose of  the  Spirit  of  God  to  raise  our  virtue  to  a  grade  far 
above  nature.  The  practice  of  the  virtues  of  faith,  hope,  and 
love,  which  bring  the  soul  into  direct  communication  with  God, 
and  which,  when  practised  under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
are  supernatural,  following  upon  the  practice  of  the  cardinal  vir- 
tues under  the  same  guidance,  place  the  soul  in  its  true  and  per- 
fect relation  with  God — a   state   which  is  more  than  natural. 

"  Let  us,  if  we  would  see  things  clearly,  keep  in  sight  the  differ- 
ence between  the  natural  and  supernatural.  In  the  natural  order 
a  certain  union  with  God  was  possessed  by  man  in  all  ages  in 
common  with  every  creature.  The  union  of  the  creature  with 
the  divine  creative  power  is  something  which  man  can  neither 
escape  from  nor  be  robbed  of.  But  in  the  case  of  rational  crea- 
tures this  union  is,  even  in  a  state  of  nature,  made  far  closer 
and  its  enjoyment  increased  by  a  virtuous  life — one  in  which  rea- 
son is  superior  to  appetite ;  a  life  only  to  be  led  by  one  assisted, 
if  not  by  the  indwelling  Holy  Spirit  peculiar  to  the  grace  of 
Christ,  yet  by  the  helps  necessary  to  natural  virtue  and  called 
medicinal  graces.     The  practice  of  the  four   cardinal  virtues — Pru- 


Father  Hecker's  Spiritual  Doctrine 


325 


dencc,  Justice,  Fortitude,  and  Temperance — in  the  ordinary- 
natural  state  gave  to  guileless  men  and  women  in  every  age  a 
natural  union  with  their  Creator.  Although  we  maintain  that 
such  natural  union  with  God  is  not  enough  for  man,  yet  we  in- 
sist that  the  part  the  natural  virtues  play  in  man's  sanctification 
be  recognized.  In  considering  a  holy  life  natural  virtues  are  too 
often  passed  over,  either  because  the  men  who  practised  them  in 
heathen  times  were  perhaps  few  in  number,  or  because  of  the 
Calvinistic  error  that  nature  and  man  are  totally  corrupt. 

"  And  we  further  insist  on  the  natural  virtues  because  they 
tend  to  place  man  in  true  relations  with  himself  and  with  nature, 
thus  bringing  him  into  more  perfect  relation  or  union  with  God 
than  he  was  by  means  of  the  creative  act — a  proper  preliminary 
to  his  supernatural  relation.  Who  will  deny  that  there  were  men 
not  a  few  among  the  heathen  in  whom  Prudence,  Justice,  For- 
titude, and  Temperance  were  highly  exemplified  ?  They  knew 
well  enough  what  right  reason  demanded.  Such  men  as  Socrates, 
Plato,  Epictetus,  and  Marcus  Aurelius  had  by  the  natural  light 
of  reason  a  knowledge  of  what  their  nature  required  of  them. 
They  had  faults,  great  ones  if  you  please  ;  at  the  same  time  they 
knew  them  to  be  faults,  and  they  had  the  natural  virtues  in 
greater  or  less  degrees.  Thus  the  union  between  God  and  the 
soul,  due  to  the  creative  act,  though  not  sufficient,  never  was  in- 
terrupted.     The  Creator  and  the  Mediator  are  one." 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

THE    PAULIST   PARISH    AND    MISSIONS. 

IN  serving  the  parish,  the  Paulists,  led  by  Father  Hecker,  en- 
deavored to  utilize  the  individual  qualities  of  each  member, 
as  well  as  the  advantages  of  a  community,  so  as  to  bring  them  to 
bear  as  distinct  forces  upon  the  people.  What  George  Miles  had 
said  of  them  as  missionaries,  as  quoted  in  a  previous  chapter, 
applied  to  them  as  parish  priests,  and  told  accordingly  in  results. 
Their  personal  excellences  found  free  room  for  activity,  without 
any  lack  of  oneness  of  spirit  and  without  interfering  with  harmony 
of  action. 

The  missionary  makes  an  efficient  parish  priest.  Accustomed 
to  severe  labor  as  well  as  to  very  moderate  recreation,  he  pours 
the  energy  of  apostolic  zeal  into  parochial  channels.  A  high  order 
of  preaching  is  often  the  result,  combined  with  tireless  application  to 
visiting  the  sick,  hunting  up  sinners,  and  hearing  confessions.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  experience  of  regular  parish  duty  is  of  assist- 
ance to  the  missionary  when  he  returns  to  his  "  apostolic  expe- 
ditions," as  Pius  IX.  called  them  ;  he  is  all  the  better  fitted 
to  plan  and  execute  his  proper  enterprises  from  having  ob- 
tained a  fuller  knowledge  of  the  ordinary  state  of  things  in  a 
parish. 

It  will  not  be  expected  that  a  detailed  account  of  the  parish 
work  of  St.  Paul's  will  here  be  given,  or  more  than  a  brief  sum- 
mary of  that  of  the  missions.  These  latter  were  kept  up  with 
vigorous  energy  from  1858  till  the  close  of  the  war  in  the  spring 
of  1865.  On  April  4  of  that  year  Father  Baker  died,  and  the 
missions,  which  had  been  a  grievous  burden  to  the  little  band, 
now  became  an  impossibility.  They  were  suspended  till  1872, 
excepting  an  occasional  one,  given  not  so  much  as  part  of  the 
current  labor  of  the  community,  as  to  retain  their  sweet  savor 
in  the  memory  and  as  an  earnest  of  their  future  resumption. 
But  up  to  Father  Baker's  death  this  small  body  of  men  had 
preached  almost  everywhere  throughout  the  country,  getting  away 
from  the  South  just  before  the  war  blocked  the  road.  Eighty- 
one  missions  had  been  given,  hundreds  of  converts  had  been  re- 
ceived into  the  Church  and  many  scores  of  thousands  of  confes- 
sions heard.  Numerous  applications  for  missions  were  refused  for 
want  of  men    to    preach    them.      Scarcely  a    city  of    any  size    in 

326 


The  Paul  is  t  Parish  and  Missions.  327 


the  United  States  and  Canada  but  knew  the   Paulists  and  thanked 
God  for  their  missions. 

The  Fathers  conducted  them  in  the  same  spirit  as  when  they 
were  Rcdemptorists,  and  followed,  as  the  community  still  con- 
tinues to  do,  substantially  the  same  method.  It  is  not  easy  to 
improve  on  St.  Alphonsus.  But  they  did  not  fail  to  bring  out 
the  qualities  and  call  for  the  peculiar  virtues  demanded  by 
Divine  Providence  in  these  times.  Their  preaching  was  distin- 
guished by  appeals  to  manliness  and  intelligence,  as  well  as  to 
the  virtues  distinctly  supernatural.  The  people  were  not  only 
edified  by  their  zeal  and  religious  discipline,  but  the  more  ob- 
servant were  attracted  by  the  Paulists'  freedom  of  spirit,  and  by 
their  constant  insistence  on  the  use  of  the  reasoning  faculties  to 
guide  the  emotions  aroused  by  the  sermons.  The  missionaries 
were  men  of  native  independence,  and  their  religious  influence 
was  productive  of  the  same  quality.  Great  attention  was  paid  to 
the  doctrinal  instructions.  As  to  special  devotions,  the  Paulists 
have  never  had  any  to  propagate,  though  competent  and  willing 
to  assist  the  pastor  in  his  own  choice  of  such  subsidiary  religious 
aids.  Non  Catholics  of  all  classes  were  drawn  to  hear  the  con- 
vert missionaries,  and  the  exercises  usually  received  flattering- 
notices  from  the  secular  press.  An  unrelenting  warfare  was  car- 
ried on  against  the  dangerous  occasions  of  sin  peculiar  to  our 
country  and  people,  and  the  Fathers  were  from  the  beginning, 
and  their  community  is  yet  well  known  for  particular  hostil- 
ity to  drunkenness,  and  to  the  most  fruitful  source  of  that  de- 
testable and  widespread  vice,  the  saloon.  Their  antagonism  to 
drunkenness  showed  their  appreciation  of  its  evil  supremacy 
among  the  masses,  and  the  condemnation  of  the  saloon  was  a 
necessary  result. 

This  attitude  of  the  missionaries  was  often  a  bitter-sweet  morsel 
to  the  pastors,  nearly  all  of  whom  at  that  time  had  been  trained 
in  the  Old  World.  They  were  glad  of  the  good  done,  yet  sorry 
to  see  their  liquor-dealers  put  to  public  shame.  One  pastor  is 
recorded  as  saying :  "  The  only  people  that  have  looked  sad  at 
this  mission  arc  the  first  men  in  my  parish,  the  rum-sellers." 
The  following  is  a  piece  of  evidence  worth  publishing,  though  it 
is  but  one  of  very  many  which  could  be  produced.  It  is  found 
in  the  Mission  Record  in  Father  Biker's  handwriting : 

"  A  Catholic  one  evening,  on  his  way  to  the  mission,  stopped 


328  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

in  a  grog-shop  and  took  a  glass  with  the  proprietor.  '  Won't  you 
go  with  me  to  hear  the  Fathers?'  said  the  guest.  'No.'  said 
the  other,  '  these  men  are  too  hard  on  us.  They  want  all  of  us 
liquor-dealers  to  shut  up  our  shops.  If  we  were  rich  we  could 
do  it  ;  but  we  an't — we  are  poor.     These  men  are  too  high    and 

independent ;    Father  wouldn't  dare    to    speak    as    they  do. 

But  after  all,'  continued  he,  'they  are  good  fellows;  see  the  effect 
of  their  labors.'  Then,  taking  out  of  his  pocket  a  crumpled  let- 
ter which  he  had  received  through  the  post-office,  and  which 
was  badly  spelled  and  badly  written,  he  read  as  follows  :  '  Sir  : 
I  send  you  three  dollars  which  I  received  by  mistake  three  years 
ago  from  your  clerk.  And  now  I  hope  that  you  will  stop  sell- 
ing damnation,  and  that  God  may  give  you  grace  to  stop  it. 
Yours  :    A  Sinner.'  " 


Whatever  may  have  been  the  misgivings  of  some,  the  op- 
position of  the  Paulists  to  the  liquor- traffic  was  approved  by  the 
most  enlightened  and  influential  prelates  and  priests  of  the 
country,  as  is  shown  by  the  number  of  cathedrals  and  other 
prominent  churches  in  which  the  missions  were  preached.  It 
should  be  added  that  this  antagonism  to  drunkenness,  to  convivial 
drinking,  and  to  saloon-ke<  ping,  not  only  received  the  unanimous 
applause  of  the  Catholic  laity,  but  edified  the  non-Catholic  pub- 
lic, and  brought  out  many  commendations  from  the  secular  press 
as  well  as  from  the  police  authorities  of  our  crowded  cities.  A 
mission  is  a  terror  to  obstinate  evil-doers  of  all  kinds,  but  to 
habitual  drunkards  and  saloon  keepers  it  is  especially  so.  The 
attitude  of  the  Church  in  America  on  this  entire  subject,  as 
officially  expressed  by  the  decrees  of  the  Third  Plenary  Council 
and  by  its  pastoral  letter,  fully  justifies  the  action  of  Father 
Hecker  and  his  companions. 

As  soon  as  the  church  in  Fifty-ninth  Street  was  opened  the 
community  exerted  itself  to  make  the  surroundings  attractive.  The 
building  occupied  but  a  small  part  of  the  property,  the  rest  of 
which  was  laid  out  in  grass-plats  and  gravel  walks  ;  many  shade- 
trees  and  some  fruit-trees  were  set  out,  and  a  flower  and  vegetable 
garden  planted.  It  was  Father  Hecker's  delight  to  superintend 
this  work,  and  to  participate  actively  in  it  when  his  duties  al- 
lowed. The  grounds  soon  became  an  attractive  spot,  to  which  in 
a  few  years  church  goers  from  all  parts  of  the  city  began  to 
make  Sunday  pilgrimages.  They  came  in  considerable  numbers 
every  Sunday  to  assist  at   Mass  or    Vespers    in    St.    Paul's    quiet, 


The   Pa  it  list  Parish  and  Missions.  329 


country-like  church.  Meantime  the  residents  of  the  parish,  not 
very  numerous  and  nearly  all  of  the  laboring  class,  formed  deep 
attachments  for  their  pastors,  and  an  almost  ideal  state  of  unity 
and  affection  bound  priests  and  people  together. 

Nearly  the  entire  region  was  covered  with  market  gardens,  varied 
with  huge  masses  of  rock,  and  groups  of  shanties.  Very  many 
of  the  parishioners  of  that  early  period  lived  in  these  nondescript 
dwellings,  of  which  they  were  themselves  both  the  architects  and 
builders,  a  fact  which  added  not  a  little  to  their  quaint  and 
picturesque  appearance.  The  sites  upon  which  these  "  squatters' ' 
homes  were  placed,  and  over  which  roamed  and  sported  their 
mingled  goats,  dogs,  and  children,  are  now  occupied  in  great  part 
by  blocks  of  stately  residences  and  apartment  houses;  but  we 
know  not  whether  the  grace  of  God  abounds  more  plentifully  now 
than  it  did  then.  At  any  rate,  whoever  heard  Father  Hecker  in 
those  primitive  days  call  his  parish  "  Shantyopolis,"  could  see  no 
sign  of  regret  on  his  part  that  he  had  a  poor  and  simple  people 
as  the  bulk  of  his  parishioners. 

Much  attention  was  given  to  the  preparation  and  preaching 
of  sermons,  with  the  result  of  a  full  attendance  at  High  Mass  on 
Sundays.  Beginning  with  1861,  a  volume  of  these  discourses  was 
published  under  Father  Hecker's  direction  each  year,  till  a  series  of 
seven  volumes  had  been  completed.  These  were  very  well  re- 
ceived by  the  Catholic  public,  and  were  bought  in  considerable 
numbers  by  non- Catholic  clergymen.  They  had  an  extensive 
sale,  though  when  their  publication  was  first  proposed  it  was 
feared  that  they  would  not  succeed.  They  are  almost  wholly  of 
a  strictly  parochial  character,  brief,  direct  in  style,  abounding  in 
examples  from  every-day  life,  and  plentifully  illustrated  with 
Scripture  quotations.  Although  Father  Hecker  preached  regularly 
in  his  turn,  only  a  few  of  his  sermons  were  contributed  to  these 
volumes,  but  his  suggestions  and  encouragement  greatly  assisted 
the  other  Fathers  in  preparing  theirs,  as  indeed  in  all  their  duties, 
parochial  and  missionary.  Some  years  after  the  series  was  ended 
two  volumes  of  Five- Minute  Sermons  were  published,  providing 
short  instructions  for  Low  Masses  on  Sundays. 

The  Paulist  Church  also  became  well  known  for  the  attention 
paid  to  the  public  offices  of  religion,  as  well  as  for  rubrical  ex- 
actness in  ceremonies,  the  greater  feasts  of  the  year  being  cele- 
brated with  all  the  splendor  which  a  simple  church-building  and 
limited   pecuniary  means  allowed. 


330  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

Father  Hecker  was  from  first  to  last  strongly  in  favor  of 
congregational  singing,  and  assisted  to  the  best  of  his  power  in 
introducing  it.  It  began  in  our  church  in  modest  fashion  back 
in  those  early  days,  and  was  fostered  zealously  at  the  Lenten  de- 
votions and  society  meetings.  It  never  failed  of  some  good  re- 
sults, and  has  finally  attained  a  flourishing  state  of  success  in 
this  parish.  His  attention  to  the  children  was  constant.  No 
matter  who  had  charge  of  the  Sunday-school,  as  long  as  his 
health  permitted  Father  Hecker  was  there  every  Sunday  that  he 
was  at  home,  asking  questions,  talking  to  the  teachers  and  chil- 
dren, enlivening  all  by   his  encouragement  and  cheerfulness. 

He  was  a  martinet  on  one  question,  and  that  was  cleanliness, 
and  its  kindred  virtue,  orderliness.  He  was  never  above  working 
with  mop,  broom  and  duster  indoors,  and  shovel  and  rake  in  the 
garden ;  and  this  trait  added  much  to  the  appearance  of  things 
as  well  as  to  the  comfort  of  all  concerned  in  the  use  of  the  con 
vent  and  the  church. 

Though  assiduous  in  every  parish  duty,  his  favorite  task  was 
the  relief  of  the  poor.  They  multiplied  in  number  in  undue 
proportion  to  the  increase  of  the  parish,  drifting  out  this  way 
from  the  overcrowded  quarters  down  town.  Father  Hecker  en- 
listed the  best  men  and  women  in  the  congregation  in  the  work 
of  caring  for  them,  organizing  a  conference  of  the  St.  Vincent 
de  Paul  Society,  in  whose  labors  he  joyfully  and  energetically 
participated. 

The  death  of  Father  Baker  was,  humanly  speaking,  a  loss  to 
the  community  beyond  all  calculation,  and  was  the  great  event 
of  the  first  period  of  the  Paulist  community.  Father  Hecker  had 
the  very  highest  estimate  of  his  holiness,  and  mourned  him  with 
the  mingled  sorrow  and  joy  with  which  saints  are  mourned. 
The  reader  should  get  Father  Hewit's  Memoir  of  Father  Baker 
if  he  would  know  his  virtues.  Father  Hecker  was  often  heard  to 
say  that  few  men  understood  his  ideas  so  clearly  as  did  Father 
Baker  and  had  so  much  sympathy  with  them.  And  his  death 
was  the  signal  for  an  impulse  whose  power  plainly  indicated  its 
supernatural  origin.  Up  to  that  time  there  had  been  but  two 
priests  added  to  the  community,  and  those  who  had  offered 
themselves  as  novices  and  been  rejected  were,  as  a  rule,  little  cal- 
culated to  inspire  hope.  But  from  1865  onwards  good  subjects, 
mostly  converts,  applied  in  sufficient  numbers,  and  in  a  few  years 
the  missions  were  resumed.     But  what  was  of    even  more  impor- 


The  Pan  list  Parish  and  Missions. 


331 


tance,  the  apostolate  of  the  press,  started  in  the  publication  of  The 
Catholic  World  the  month  in  which  Father  Baker's  death 
occurred,  assumed  a  national  prominence,  and  together  with  the 
Catholic  Tracts  and  the  Catholic  Publication  Society  set  the  Paulists 
at  work  in  their  primary  vocation,  the  conversion  of  non-Catholics 
to  the  true  religion.  To  this,  and  to  Father  Hecker's  lectures,  we 
now  turn.  Of  course  we  might  dwell  longer  on  the  parish  and 
the  missions,  about  which  there  are  many  things  of  interest  left 
untold,  but  only  the  lapse  of  time  can  sufficiently  dissociate  them 
from  living  persons  to  allow  of  their  being  made  public. 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 

FATHER  HECKER'S  LECTURES. 

THE  suspension  of  the  missions,  if  it  was  the  result  of  neces- 
sity, was  yet  an  aid  to  Father  Hecker  in  devoting  himself 
to  public  speaking  in  the  interests  of  the  Catholic  faith.  Between 
missions,  it  is  true,  he  seized  every  favorable  opportunity  to 
address  audiences  on  controversial  topics,  often  doing  so  in  public 
halls,  as  well  as  in  churches.  Meantime  he  could  still  further 
mature  his  plans,  and,  testing  his  methods  by  experiment,  secure 
for  future  occasions  a  course  of  lectures  fully  suited  to  the  end 
he  had  in  view.  More  than  ever  did  he  study  to  fit  himself 
for  his  apostolate.  How,  he  asked  himself,  shall  the  living  word 
be  framed  anew  for  our  new  people  ?  How  shall  religious  teaching 
be  suited  to  the  special  needs  of  this  age  without  detracting  from 
the  integrity  and  the  venerable  antiquity  of  the  truth  ?  He 
sought  to  answer  these  questions  by  recalling  his  own  early  difficul- 
ties, and  by  opening  his  soul  to  the  voices  of  struggling  hu- 
manity uttered  everywhere  around  him.  What  men  outside  the 
Church  were  yearning  for  in  matters  social  and  religious  was  his 
incessant  study.  He  read  every  book,  he  read  every  periodical 
which  promised  to  guide  him  ever  so  little  to  know  by  what 
road  Divine  Providence  was  moving  men's  minds  towards  the  truth. 
His  eyes  were  ever  strained  to  read  the  signs  of  God's  provi- 
dence in  men's  lives.  And  his  conclusion  was  always  the  same: 
proclaim  it  on  the  house-tops  that  no  man  can  be  consistent 
with  his  natural  aspirations  till  he  has  become  a  Catholic ; 
preach  it  on  the  street- corners  that  the  Catholic  religion  elevates 
man  far  above  his  highest  natural  force  into  union  with  the 
Deity — intimate,  conscious,  and  perpetual. 

As  to  systematic  preparation  for  discourses  to  non-Catholics, 
Father  Hecker  had  his  own  peculiar  equipment.  As  the  reader  will 
remember,  God  had  led  him  in  no  way  more  singularly  than  in 
his  studies,  and  had  led  him  straight.  The  doctrines  of  the  Church 
were  familiar  to  him,  for  they  had  quenched  his  soul's  thirst. 
And  he  had  preached  them  on  the  missions,  the  instructions  on 
the  Creed  and  the  Sacraments  falling  to  his  share.  He  had  given 
these  waters  of  life  to  other  souls,  and  knew  their  value.  He  was 
a  close  student  of  the  dogmatic  side  of  religion.  He  had,  it  is 
true,  little  taste    for   the    refinements    of    theologians,    unless    they 

332 


Father  Hcckers  Lectures.  333 

touched  the  questions  of  human  dignity  and  the  scope  of  the  grace 
of  Christ,  which  were  vital  ones  to  himself.  He  viewed  religion 
with  wide-sweeping  glances,  trying  to  discover  every  hill  of  vision 
or  stream  of  sanctity.  He  had  plain  truths  to  teach,  and  he  needed 
none  other.  He  knew  the  organism  of  the  Church  in  clergy  and 
in  people,  for  he  had  seen  it  both  from  without  and  within.  He 
had  felt  the  grip  of  authority  fixed  in  his  soul.  He  had  agonized 
under  the  brand  of  punishment  as  it  burnt  into  his  flesh,  and  he 
had  seen  it  changed  into  the  badge  of  approval.  Within  and 
without  he  knew  Catholicity,  loved  it  daily  more  and  more,  and 
was  daily  more  and  more  anxious  to  proclaim  it  to  the  world. 
It  was  not  from  labored  preparation  of  his  lectures  that  success 
came  to  Father  Hecker.  Even  those  which  seemed  the  most 
elaborately  prepared  he  did  not  write  out  word  for  word.  His 
verbal  memory  was  not  trustworthy,  and  he  had  to  confide  in  his 
extemporizing  faculty,  which  was  very  good,  and  which  became  in 
course  of  time  quite  reliable,  giving  out  sentences  clear,  gramma- 
tical, and  fit  to  print.  "  I  have  to  produce  a  sermon  for  next  Sun- 
day," he  once  wrote  to  a  friend.  "  For  me  a  sermon  is  always 
a  spontaneous  production  ;  I  cannot  get  one  up.  The  idea  must 
arise  and  grow  up  in  my  own  mind.  It  is  usually  hard  labor  for 
me  to  produce  it  outwardly  and  give  it  suitable  expression."  But 
the  effort  did  not  appear  in  the  delivery,  for  his  style,  although 
emphatic,  was  easy  and  familiar ;  his  delivery,  if  not  altogether 
according  to  the  rules  of  elocution,  nevertheless  gained  his  point 
completely.  No  word  of  his  was  dead-born.  His  voice  was  not 
always  clear,  as  he  often  suffered  from  bronchial  troubles,  but  it 
was  not  unpleasant,  and  had  a  penetrating  quality,  being  of  that 
middle  pitch  which  carries  to  the  ends  of  a  large  auditorium  with- 
out provoking  the  echoes.  His  appearance  was  very  dignified, 
his  tall  frame,  his  broad  face  and  large  features  showing  with 
striking  effect.  His  action  was  simple  and  not  ungraceful,  though 
frequently  exceedingly  energetic.  As  he  never  sought  emotional 
effects  his  power  may  be  known  by  his  unfailing  success  in  hold- 
ing his  audience  perfectly  attentive  throughout  long  argumentative 
discourses.  Energy  of  conviction  was  one  of  the  strongest  forces 
he  possessed,  and  it  took  the  shape  of  a  gentle  constraint  with 
which  his  positive  utterances  of  Catholic  principles  compelled 
assent.  Sincerity  of  belief  and  liberty  of  soul  were  admirably 
blended  in  his  manner.  He  never  appeared  in  public  without 
attracting  many  representatives  of  the  mottled  sectarianism  of  our 


334  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

population  ;  and  this  pleased  him  much,  for  he  loved  them, 
felt  at  home  with  them,  and  was  full  of  joy  at  the  opportunity  of 
addressing  them. 

He  was  chagrined  at  the  apathy  he  sometimes  met  with 
among  Catholics  concerning  the  American  apostolate.  He  found 
priests  who  would  devote  much  labor  to  collecting  money  for  the 
propagation  of  the  faith  among  distant  heathen  races,  .but  very  few 
who  would  make  a  serious  effort  for  the  conversion  of  their 
American  fellow -citizens.  Are  Americans  of  less  worth  in  God's 
eyes  than  pagans  and  Buddhists  ?  he  would  ask.  He  thought  no 
differently  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  than  St.  Paul  did 
of  the  Corinthians  and  Macedonians,  groaning  and  travailing 
with  them  to  bring  them  forth  members  of  Christ ;  or  than  St. 
Francis  Xavier  did  of  the  Japanese. 

If  asked  how  he  was  going  to  convert  people,  he  would  answer: 
"I  am  a  Catholic,  and  I  know  that  I  am  right.  I  can  prove  that 
I  am  right.  What  more  do  I  want  than  this,  and  honest  men  and 
women  who  will  listen  to  me  ?  "  The  confidence  he  had  in  the 
strength  of  the  Catholic  argument  was  absolute,  and  this  he  showed 
by  his  zeal.  His  sole  study  was  how  to  transmute  this  force 
into  missionary  form.  Of  all  the  wonders  of  the  intellectual  world 
he  felt  that  the  greatest  is  the  faith  of  Catholics,  and  he  knew 
by  the  lesson  of  his  early  life  that  it  is  but  slightly  appreciated  by 
the  non-Catholic  mind.  That  Catholics  permit  this  ignorance  to 
continue  was  a  puzzle  to  him.  And  it  was  all  the  more  annoy- 
ing becc.use  any  single  one  of  them  can  multiply  his  influence 
indefinitely  by  his  union  with  the  most  perfect  organism  ever 
known — the  Catholic  Church.  The  quiescence  of  a  body  of  men, 
sincere  and  intelligent,  infallibly  certain  of  the  means  of  obtain- 
ing eternal  happiness,  living  in  daily  contact  with  other  men 
ignorant  and  inquiring  about  this  unspeakable  privilege,  and  yet 
not  taking  instant  measures  to  impart  their  knowledge,  was  to 
Father  Hecker  almost  as  great  a  wonder  as  the  divine  gift  of  faith 
itself,  especially  as  Catholics  are  well  furnished  with  leaders  and  are 
organized    to  spread  the  truth  as  one  of  their  most  sacred  duties. 

Mr.  Wilfrid  Ward,  a  Catholic  philosophical  writer  of  distinc- 
tion, has  explained  in  a  brilliant  little  volume  the  influence  upon 
controversy  of  what  he  styles  The  Clothes  of  Religion — race, 
political  traditions,  education,  physical  temperament.  He  puts 
into  his  instructive  pages  the  sense  of  the  great  scholastic  max- 
im,  Quidquid  recipitur  secundum    modum    recipiefitis     recipitur — 


Father  flecker' s  Lectures.  335 


Whatever  is  received,  is  received  according  to  the  mode  (or 
character)  of  the  recipient.  The  national  character,  the  tendencies, 
the  antecedents  of  the  people  addressed'  the  relative  power  of 
thought  and  of  emotion  in  their  mental  activity  ;  all  these  are 
not,  indeed,  the  souls  of  men  but  the  clothing  of  them,  their 
armor  and  their  weapons;  and  Father  Hecker  felt  that  such  things 
must  be  taken  into  account  in  dealing  with  people,  and  that 
with  the  utmost  discretion.  His  view  about  controversy  with 
non-Catholics  was  indeed  aggressive — that  we  had  reached  the 
point  in  the  battle  at  which  the  legion,  having  cast  its  javelins, 
rushes  on  with  drawn  swords  to  closer  conflict.  But  the  com- 
batants should  be  well  trained,  the  captains  should  know  the 
ground  to  be  traversed,  should  understand  thoroughly  the  weak- 
ness and  strength  of  the  enemy.  It  was  not  a  new  thing  to 
bring  Protestantism  into  court  at  the  suit  of  human  liberty.  But 
it  was  a  novelty  to  attack  Protestantism  as  the  very  torture- 
chamber  of  free  and  innocent  souls,  and  to  do  it  in  such  a  way 
as  to  draw  thousands  of  the  best  Protestants  in  the  land  to 
listen.  Such  sentences  in  the  morning  papers  as  "  An  overflow- 
ing house  greeted  Father  Hecker,"  "  The  immense  hall  has  sel- 
dom been  so  completely  filled,"  "  Representative  men  of  all  creeds 
and  of  none  were  scattered  through  the  large  audience,"  had  a 
tremendous  meaning  when  the  lecturer  was  known  to  be  the 
most  fearless  assailant  of  Protestantism  who  had  appeared  for 
many  a  day. 

Father  Hecker  well  knew  that  the  non-Catholic  American 
aspires  to  deal  with  God  through  the  aid  of  as  few  exterior  ap- 
pliances as  possible.  To  come  near  God  by  his  own  spiritual 
activity  without  halting  at  forms  of  human  contrivance  is  his 
spiritual  ambition.  His  religious  joy  is  in  a  spiritual  life  which 
deals  with  God  directly,  His  inspired  Word,  His  Holy  Spirit. 
Father  Hecker  longed  to  tell  his  fellow-countrymen  that  the 
Catholic  Church  gives  them  a  flight  to  God  a  thousand  times 
more  direct  than  they  ever  dreamed  of.  They  think  that  the 
authority  of  the  Church  will  cramp  their  limbs;  he  was  eager 
to  explain  to  them  that  it  sets  them  free,  clears  the  mind  of 
doubt,  intensifies  conviction  into  instinctive  certitude,  quickens 
the  intellectual  faculties  into  an  activity  whose  force  is  un- 
known outside  the    Church. 

It  was  not  with  the  truths  of  revelation  alone  that  Father 
Hecker   dealt  in  his  lectures.       The  first  principles  of  natural  re- 


336  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

ligion  were  the  background  of  all  his  pictures  of  true  Christian- 
ity :  that  God  is  good,  that  men  will  be  punished  only  for  their 
personal  misdeeds,  that  men  are  born  for  union  with  God  and 
in  their  best  moments  long  for  Him,  that  they  are  equal,  being 
all  made  in  the  Divine  image,  endowed  with  free  will  and  called 
to  the  one  eternal  happiness — such  were  the  great  truths  with 
which  he  would  impress  his  audience  first  of  all,  using  them 
afterwards  as  terms  of  comparison  with  Protestant  doctrine. 
This  plan  he  followed  rather  than  institute  a  comparison  of 
historical  claims  or  of  Biblical  credentials,  the  well-trodden  but 
weary  road  of  ordinary  controversy.  To  him  Protestantism  was 
more  an  offence  against  the  integrity  of  human  nature  than 
even  against  the  truths  of  Christian  revelation.  And  he  would 
place  Catholicity  in  a  new  light,  that  of  reason  and  liberty. 

The  revolt  of  Protestantism  was  not  more  against  God's  ex- 
ternal authority  among  men  than  it  was  against  the  equal 
brotherhood  of  the  human  race.  Well  done,  Luther,  Father 
Hecker  would  say,  well  and  consistently  done  ;  when  you  have 
proclaimed  man  totally  depraved  you  have  properly  made  his 
religion  a  Cain-like  flight  from  the  face  of  his  Maker  and  his 
kindred  by  your  doctrine  of  predestination.  Father  Hecker 
deemed  it  plainly  unwise  to  forego  the  advantages  of  attacking 
such  vulnerable  points  as  the  Protestant  errors  of  total  depravity 
and  predestination  for  the  sake  of  dwelling  on  the  Biblical  and 
historical  credentials  of  Church  authority.  He  knew,  indeed, 
that  extravagant  individualism  is  to  this  day  a  fundamental  Pro- 
testant error,  but  the  waning  power  of  its  doctrinal  assertion 
has  deprived  it  of  aggressive  vigor.  There  is  less  danger  of  its 
assault  upon  the  Church,  Father  Hecker  thought,  than  of  its 
sceptical  tendency  upon  its  own  adherents.  To  emphasize  the 
obligation  of  organic  unity,  in  such  a  condition  of  things,  was 
not  good  tactics ;  it  was  to  revive  the  spirit  of  resistance  with- 
out arresting  the  evils  of  doubt.  Authority  in  religion  has 
high  and  undoubted  claims ;  but  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  the 
normal  development  of  man  is  in  freedom.  Man  is  fitted  for 
his  destiny  in  proportion  to  his  ability  to  use  his  liberty  with 
wisdom,  and  Father  Hecker  endeavored  to  set  non -Catholics 
themselves  to  work  removing  the  obstacles  to  true  spiritual 
liberty    which    Protestantism    had  planted   in    the    way. 

An  appeal  from  Luther  and   Calvin    to    the    standards    of  ra- 
tional nature,  to  human  virtue,  to  human  equality,  rather  than  to 


Father  Hecker  s  Lectures.  337 

exclusively  Catholic  standards,  was  certain  of  success  in  a  large 
class  of  minds.  And  this  but  led  to  the  consideration  of  the 
Church's  claims  to  elevate  rational  nature  and  natural  virtue  to 
that  divine  order  which  is  above  nature,  and  which  is  organic  in 
the  Catholic  Church.  Moral  rectitude  is  a  simpler  test  of  truth 
than  texts  from  a  dead  book,  whose  original  tongues  and  whose 
perplexed  exegesis  are  quite  unknown  to  the  vast  mass  of  man- 
kind. And  Father  Hecker  recognized  that  the  elementary  truths 
of  reason  and  the  aspirations  of  humanity  for  better  things  are 
not  unknown  to  any  man  or  woman ;  these  are  everybody's  per- 
sonal means  of  testing  truth.  To  pass  them  by  in  order  to 
apply  the  remoter  test  of  revelation  is  either  to  admit  that 
Protestantism  is  not  against  the  dictates  of  reason  and  man's 
aspirations,  or  to  commence  the  argument  against  it  at  the 
wrong    end. 

In  a  letter  to  Cardinal  Barnabo  written  in  July,  1863,  Father 
Hecker  gives  an  account  of  how  he  went  to  work  to  secure  and 
interest  a  non-Catholic    audience  : 

"  For  several  years  past  it  has  seemed  to  me  that  some  more 
effectual  means  should  be  taken  to  reach  the  Protestant  com- 
munity. This  last  winter  I  ventured  with  this  view  upon  an  experi- 
ment. In  three  different  cities  I  gave,  in  a  large  public  hall,  a 
course  of  conferences  on  religion,  one  every  evening  from  Sunday 
to  Sunday  inclusive.  The  expense  of  the  hall  was  paid  by  the 
priest  of  the  place,  the  lectures  were  all  free,  and  addressed  ex- 
clusively to  Protestants.  The  halls  were  crowded  at  each  place, 
and  that  my  audiences  might  be  such  as  I  desired  to  address, 
I  begged  Catholics  to  stay  away.  At  the  close  of  one  of  my 
lectures  there  were  present  twenty-five  hundred  persons,  chiefly 
Protestants. 

"My  method  was 'as  follows:  In  treating  any  doctrine  of 
our  holy  faith  with  a  view  to  convincing  my  audience,  I  consid- 
ered first  what  want  in  our  nature  it  was  related  to,  and  to 
which  it  addressed  itself.  This  want  being  discovered,  I  devel- 
oped and  illustrated  it  until  my  hearers  were  fully  convinced  of 
its  existence  and  importance.  Then  the  question  came  up,  Which 
religion  recognizes  this'  element  or  want  of  our  nature,  and  meets 
all  its  legitimate  demands  ?  Does  Protestantism  ?  Its  answers 
were  given,  and  found  either  hostile  or  incomplete.  Then  the 
Catholic  Church  was  interrogated,  and    she    was   found  to  recog- 


338  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 

nize  this  want,  and  her  answers  adequate  and  satisfactory.  These 
answers  were  then  shown  to  be  supported  by  the  authority  of 
Holy  Scriptures. 

"  The  interest  shown  by  my  audience  was  remarkable,  and 
the  effect  of  this  method  was  equal  to  my  hopes.  My  experi- 
ence convinces  me  that,  if  this  work  were  continued,  it  would 
prepare  the  way  for  a  great  change  of  religion  in  this  country, 
more  particularly  at  the  present  time,  when  the  public  mind  is 
favorably  disposed  to  consider  the  claims  of  the  Catholic  Church." 

The  "  want  in  our  nature "  appealed  to  was  often  in  the 
political  order,  such  as  the  love  of  liberty  or  man's  capacity  for 
self-government.  This  he  dwelt  upon  at  considerable  length  in 
the  opening  part  of  his  lecture,  viewing  it  as  a  philosopher 
would,  and  extending  its  application,  as  far  as  possible,  to  men 
generally.  He  thus  chose  his  criterion  for  comparison  of  the  two 
claimants  in  the  religious  world.  His  triumph  was,  therefore,  often 
in  an  arena  only  semi-religious,  or  rather  in  that  of  natural  re- 
ligion. The  effect  was  wonderfully  good,  though  doubtless  due 
in  great  measure  to  the  manner  in  which  his  plan,  so  simply 
sketched  in  the  letter  above  quoted,  was  developed  before  the 
audience.  The  entire  doubting  body  of  intelligent  men  was  en- 
listed in  varying  degrees  in  favor  of  the  Catholic  teaching  of 
man's  relation  to  God  and  to  his  fellow-men,  and  against  Protest- 
antism. Americans  could  not  help  feeling  disgust  for  doctrines 
which  were  condemned  by  the  maxims  of  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence. 

Although  there  was  nothing  positively  new  in  the  method — 
something  like  it  had  been  used  by  Archbishop  Hughes  against  the 
Presbyterian  champion,  Breckenridge — yet  the  public  was  taken  by 
surprise.  The  style  of  controversy  universally  in  vogue  was  that  of 
setting  up  texts  of  Scripture  and  bowling  them  down  with  other 
texts.  But  here  comes  an  American  Catholic  and  arraigns  Protestant 
doctrine  at  the  tribunal  of  American  liberty.  The  thick-and-thin 
Protestant  was  thrown  into  a  rage,  and  became  abusive  and  often 
incoherent  in  his  reply.  The  easy-going  Protestant  claimed  that 
the  doctrines  assailed  were  obsolete,  as  his  church  had,  at  least 
implicitly,  changed  them.  "  Then  change  your  church,"  said 
Father  Hecker;  "if  you  have  come  back  to  the  right  doctrine, 
why  not  come  back  to  the  true  Church?"  As  to  the  average 
intelligent  inquirer,  he  was  uniformly  influenced  by  these  lectures 


Father  flecker  s  Lectures.  339 


against  the  Reformation  and  its  entire  teaching,  with  its  dreadful 
effects  of  doubt  and  division  among  Christians. 

Father  Hecker  had  an  intuitive  perception  of  the  peculiar  diffi- 
culties of  the  American  people,  and  ever  showed  the  utmost 
readiness  and  skill  in  meeting  them.  He  had  a  matchless  power 
of  laying  bare  the  wants  of  the  human  heart,  and  an  equal  facility 
of  pointing  out  the  light  and  strength  of  Catholicity  for  their 
supply.  His  immense  sympathy  for  an  aspiring  and  guileless 
soul  deprived  of  the  truth,  was  most  evident ;  he  always  looked 
it  and  spoke  it  and  acted  it  before  his  audience.  To  do  so  was 
no  effort  on  his  part.  He  told  of  the  promised  land  not  as  a 
native  of  it,  but  as  a  messenger  sent  into  it,  and  now  returned 
with  such  tidings  as  should  hasten  the  steps  of  his  brethren  still 
wandering  in  the  desert;  and  this  sympathetic  interest  em- 
braced the  civil  as  well  as  the  religious  side  of  human  nature. 
He  claimed  everything  really  American  for  the  Catholic  faith,  and 
this  was  joy  and  gladness  to  many  a  weary  heart  drawn  to  the 
Church  by  her  charities,  or  her  beautiful  symbolism,  yet  hindered 
by  the  phantom  of  absolute  authority  and  the  dread  of  losing 
the  integrity  of  free  citizenship.  Incivism — will  Catholic  apologists 
never  learn  it  ? — is  the  heaviest  stone  flung  at  the  Church  in 
all  free  lands  to-day.  Father  Hecker's  blood  fairly  boiled  that 
the  Church  of  Christ,  the  very  home  of  Christian  freedom,  and 
the  nursing-mother  of  all  civil  well-being,  should  be  thus  assailed, 
while  Calvin's  and  Luther's  degrading  doctrines  should  be  paraded 
as  alone  worthy    of  a  free  people. 

To  say  that  Father  Hecker  "Americanized"  in  the  narrow 
sense  would  be  to  do  him  injustice.  The  American  ideas  to 
which  he  appealed  he  knew  to  be  God's  will  for  all  civilized 
peoples  of  our  time.  If  fundamentally  American  they  were 
not  for  that  reason  exclusively  American.  His  Americanism  is 
so  broad  that  by  a  change  of  place  it  can  be  made  Spanish,  or 
German;  and  a  slight  change  of  terms  makes  it  religious  and 
Catholic.  Nor  had  form  of  government  essentially  to  do  with  it; 
human  equality  cannot  be  monopolized  by  republics  ;  it  can  be 
rightly  understood  in  a  monarchy,  though  in  such  a  case  it  does 
not  assume  the  conspicuous  place  which  it  does  in  a  republic.  It 
was  this  broadness  of  Father  Hecker's  Americanism  that  mide 
him  acceptable  to  the  extremely  conservative  circles  of  Rome, 
in  his  struggle  there  in  the  winter  of  1858-9.  Many  men  in  ^ 
the  monarchies  of    the  Old   World  may    doubt  the  advent  of  re- 


340  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker.  ■ 


publicanism    there,  but    what  sensible    man    anywhere  doubts    the 
aspiration  of  all  races  towards  liberty  and  intelligence  ? 

Father  Hecker's  repertory  covered  the  entire  ground  between 
scepticism  and  Catholicism.  In  refutation  of  Protestantism  the 
principal  lectures  were:  The  Church  and  the  Republic  ;  Luther  and 
the  Reformation  ;  Hoiv  and  Why  L  became  a  Catholic,  or  A  Search 
after  Rational  Christianity ;  and  The  State  of  Religion  in  the 
United  States.  On  the  positive  side  his  chief  topics  were :  The 
Church  as  a  Society,  Why  we  Invoke  the  Saints,  and  the  Sacraments 
of  Penance  and  Holy  Communion.  Others  he  had  against  mate- 
rialism, spiritualism,  etc. 

As  may  naturally  be  supposed,  some  of  his  lectures  succeeded 
better  than  others.  One  of  those  he  personally  preferred  was  The 
Church  and  the  Republic.  He  opened  by  affirming,  as  the  funda- 
mental principle  of  the  American  nation,  that  man  is  naturally  virtu- 
ous enough  to  be  capable  of  self-government.  He  developed  this  in 
various  ways  till  his  audience  felt  that  it  was  to  be  the  touchstone  of 
the  question  between  the  churches.  He  then  exhibited  the  Protes- 
tant teaching  on  human  virtue  and  human  depravity,  quoting  exten- 
sively from  Luther  and  from  Calvin,  as  well  as  from  the  creeds 
of  the  principal  Protestant  sects,  until  the  contrast  between  their 
teaching  and  the  fundamental  American  principle  was  painfully 
vivid.  There  was  no  escape ;  doctrinal  Protestantism  is  un-Amer- 
ican. He  then  gave  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  free  will,  of  merit, 
of  human  dignity,  and  of  the  equality  of  men  and  human  brother- 
hood. The  impression  was  profound.  Great  mountains  of 
prejudice  were  lifted  up  and  cast  into  the  sea.  The  elevating 
influences  of  the  Church's  faith  fixed  men's  eyes  and  won  their 
hearts.  To  have  it  demonstrated  that  Catholicity  was  not  a  gigan- 
tic effort  to  combine  all  available  human  forces  to  maintain  a 
central  religious  despotism  in  the  hands  of  a  hierarchy,  was  a  sur- 
prise to  multitudes  of  Protestants.  To  not  a  few  intelligent  Cath- 
olics the  style  of  argument  was  a  great  novelty.  Father  Hecker's 
success  proved  that  the  claim  of  authority  on  the  part  of  the 
Church  could  be  established  without  much  difficulty  in  men's 
minds,  if  it  were  not  associated  with  the  enslavement  of  reason  and 
conscience,  and  if  shown  to  be  consistent  with  rational  liberty. 
He  insisted  upon  the  positive  view  of  the  subject.  He  proclaimed 
the  purpose  of  Catholic  discipline  to  be  essentially  conservative  of 
human  rights,  a  divinely-appointed  safeguard  to  the  liberty  and 
enlightenment    of     the    soul    of    man.       He     further     proclaimed 


Father  Heckcrs  Lectures.  34 l 


that  the  infliction  of  penalties   by  Church   authority  was  an   acci- 
dental   exercise     of   power    provoked    by     disobedience    to  lawful 

authority. 

Luther  and  the  Reformation  excited  widespread  remark,  and  yet 
to  one  accustomed  to  old  time  controversy  it  seemed  but  a  frag- 
ment of  an  argument.  The  lecture  proved  that  Luther  was  not 
an  honest  reformer,  because,  having  started  to  reform  inside  the 
Church  and  as  a  Catholic,  he  finished  by  leaving  the  Church  and 
therefore  the  real  work  of  reform.  At  the  outset  Father  Hecker 
proved  that  Luther  was  but  one,  and  by  no  means  the  most  im- 
portant one,  of  the  great  body  of  Catholic  reformers  of  his  time. 
These  set  to  work  to  remedy  abuses  which  had  grown  to  such 
an  extent  as  to  have  become  intolerable.  The  genuine  reformers, 
led  by  the  Popes,  went  right  on  and  did  reform  the  Church  most 
thoroughly,  ending  by  the  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent.  All 
this  the  lecturer  proved  by  citations  from  numerous  high  authori- 
ties, all  of  them  Protestants.  Why  did  Luther  leave  the  company 
of  the  true  reformers  ?  or,  as  Father  Hecker  puts  it,  "  Why  did 
Luther  change  his  base  ?  "  Whatever  reason  he  had  for  leaving 
Catholicity,  it  was  not,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  on  account  of  zeal  for 
reform.  The  lecture  concluded  by  emphatically  and,  in  different 
terms,  repeatedly  denying  to  Luther  the  name  of  Reformer  and  to 
his  work  the  name  of  Reformation.  Such  was  the  line  of  argument 
in  a  lecture  which  entertained  the  general  public  and  enraged 
bigoted  Protestants  more,  perhaps,  than  any  of  the  others.  The 
secret  of  its  success  was  that  it  overturned  the  great  Protestant 
idol. 

With  humanitarians,  rationalists,  indifferentists,  and  sceptics 
Father  Hecker's  lectures  were  popular,  and  such  were  his 
favorite  audience.  If  he  so  much  as  aroused  their  curiosity 
about  the  Church,  he  deemed  that  he  had  gained  a  victory ; 
this  and  more  than  this  he  always  succeeded  in  doing.  Re- 
gular "  church  menbers"  he  did  not  hope  much  from, 
though  they  came  to  hear  him  and  he  sometimes  made  con- 
verts even  among  them.  The  lecture  system,  then  far  more 
in  vogue  than  at  present,  gave  him  hearers  from  all  classes 
of  minds,  and  especially  those  most  intellectually  restless  and 
inquiring.  He  took  his  turn  in  the  list  which  contained  the 
names  of  Wendell  Phillips,  B^echer,  Emerson,  and  Sumner,  and 
found  his  golden  opportunity  before  such  audiences  as  had 
been    gathered     to     listen     to    them.      Thus     into     the     drifts    of 


342  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker, 


thought  and  into  the  intellectual  movements  around  him,  into 
the  daily  and  periodical  press,  into  the  social  and  political  and 
scientific  groupings  of  men  and  women,  his  lectures  enabled 
him  to  breathe  the  peremptory  call  of  the  true  religion,  sure 
to  provoke  inquiry  in  all  active  minds,  and  in  some  to  find 
sood  soil  and  bear  the  harvest  of  conversion.  He  searched 
for  earnest  souls ;  and  his  confidence  that  they  were  every- 
where to  be  found  was  rewarded  not  only  in  many  particular 
instances,  but  also  by  the  removal  of  much  prejudice  through- 
out   the    entire   country. 

The  writer  of  these  pages  saw  Father  Hecker  for  the  first 
time  on  the  lecture  platform.  He  was  then  in  the  full  tide 
of  success,  conscious  of  his  opportunity  and  of  his  power  to 
profit  by  it.  We  never  can  forget  how  distinctly  American 
was  the  impression  of  his  personality.  We  had  heard  the 
nation's  greatest  men  then  living,  and  their  type  was  too 
familiar  to  be  successfully  counterfeited.  Father  Hecker  was 
so  plainly  a  great  man  of  that  type,  so  evidently  an  out- 
growth of  our  institutions,  that  he  stamped  American  on  every 
Catholic  argument  he  proposed.  Nor  was  the  force  of  this 
peculiar  impression  lessened  by  the  whispered  grumblings  of  a 
few  petty  minds  among  Catholics  themselves,  to  whom  this 
apostolic  trait  was  cause  for  suspicion.  Never  was  a  man 
more  Catholic  than  Father  Hecker,  simply,  calmly,  joyfully, 
entirely  Catholic.  What  better  proof  of  this  than  the  rage 
into  which  his  lectures  and  writings  threw  the  outright  enemies 
of  the  Church  ?  Grave  ministers  lost  their  balance  and  foamed 
at  him  as  a  trickster  and  a  hypocrite,  all  the  wo^se  because 
double-dyed    with    pretence   of  love    of   country. 

For  the  Protestant  pulpits  felt  the  shock  and  stormed  in  uni- 
son against  this  new  exposition  of  Catholicity  and  against  its 
representative.  In  some  cases,  not  content  with  one  onslaught, 
they  returned  to  the  charge  Sunday  after  Sunday.  All  this 
was  not  unexpected.  The  secular  press,  however,  were  very 
generally  favorable  in  their  notices,  excepting  some  of  the 
Boston  dailies.  As  a  rule,  the  lectures  were  very  fully  re- 
ported   and    sometimes    appeared    word    for    word. 

To  reply  to  one's  assailants  after  one  has  left  the  field  of 
battle  is  no  easy  matter,  and  for  the  most  fcpart  Father 
Hecker  trusted  for  this  to  local  champions  of  Catholicity; 
and    not    in    vain.      But    it   happened    on    one   occasion   that  after 


Father  Hecker  s   Lectures.  343 


he  had  lectured  in  a  large  town  in  Michigan,  and  had 
journeyed  on  to  fulfil  engagements  farther  West,  he  was  at- 
tacked in  a  public  hall  by  a  minister  of  the  place.  On  his 
return  East  Father  Hecker  stopped  over  and  gave  another 
lecture  in  the  town,  and  not  only  refuted  the  minister  but 
covered  him  with  ridicule.  In  fact  there  was  no  great  need  of 
defence  of  Father  Heckcr's  arguments,  they  were  so  simply  true 
and  so  readily  understood..  Not  one  of  his  antagonists  compared 
well  with  him  for  frankness,  good  humor,  courtesy  ;  and  they 
almost  invariably  shirked  the  issue  and  confined  themselves  to 
stale  calumnies  against  the    Church. 

At  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  Father  Hecker  lectured  in  the  Meth- 
odist meeting-house,  then  the  largest  hall  in  the  town.  The 
Michigan  State  University,  at  this  town,  had  at  the  time  about 
seven  hundred  students,  nearly  all  of  whom  came  to  the  lecture. 
The  subject  chosen  was  Luther  and  the  Reformation.  As  it 
was  announced,  the  audience  loudly  applauded  Luther's  name,  and 
some  one  called  for  three  cheers  for  him,  which  were  given  vo- 
ciferously, especially  by  the  students.  Father  Hecker  smiled, 
waited  till  the  noise  was  over,  then  bade  them  give  him  a  fair 
hearing;  which,  of  course,  they  did.  Before  he  had  concluded, 
his  audience  seemed  won  to  his  view  of  the  question  in  hand, 
and  showed  it  by  the  names  and  the  sentiments  applauded.  At 
the  end  some  one  called  out  "Three  cheers  for  Father  Hecker!' 
and    they  were  given  most  heartily. 

There  seems  nothing  like  a  new  discovery,  as  we  have  already 
said,  in  Father  Hecker's  controversial  matter,  or  even  in  the 
method  of  its  treatment.  But  joined  with  its  exponent,  blended 
into  his  personality,  as  it  was,  by  the  sincerity  of  his  conviction, 
it  was  a  discovery;  flavored  and  tinctured  by  him,  this  wayside 
fountain  had  a  new  life-giving  power  to  both  Catholics  and  non- 
Catholics.  Bishops,  priests,  and  Catholic  men  and  women  in  the 
world  heard  him  with  mute  attention.  Some  Catholics,  it  is  true, 
were  stunned  by  his  bold  handling  of  those  traditional  touch-me- 
nots  of  conservatism — reason  and  liberty ;  and  such  drew  off  sus- 
picious. But  multitudes  of  Catholics  felt  that  he  opened  up  to 
full  view  the  dim  vistas  of  truth  towards  which  they  had  long  been 
groping;  these  could  agree  with  him  without  an  effort.  A  few 
had  reached  his  stand-point  before  they  knew  him,  and  hailed 
with  rapture  the  leader  who,  unlike  themselves,  was  not  kept  back 
by  either  dread  of    novel-sounding  terms  or  by    the   impotency   of 


344  The  Life  of  Father  Heckcr. 

private  station.  But  here  and  there  he  met  Catholics  as  dead-set 
against  him  as  the  Judaizing  converts  had  been  against  his  pa- 
tron, St.  Paul.  Their  only  love  was  for  antiquity,  and  that  they 
loved  passionately  and  in  all  its  forms,  even  the  neo-antiquity  of 
the  controversy  of  the  Reformation  era.  On  the  other  hand 
many,  when  they  heard  him,  said,  "  That  is  the  kind  of  Cathoiic 
I  am,  and  the  only  kind  it  is  easy  for  me  to  be."  Non-Catholics, 
earnest  men  and  women,  were  often  heard  to  say,  "  If  I  ivere 
quite  sure  that  Hecker  is  a  genuine  Roman  CatJiolic  I  think  that 
I  could  be  one  myself";  and  this  some  of  them  did  not  hesitate 
to  publish  in  the  newspapers,  so  that  Father  Hecker  might  have 
said  with  Job:  "The  ear  that  heard  me  blessed  me,  and  the 
eye  that  saw  me  gave   witness  to  me." 

Father  Hecker  felt  that  he  was  a  pioneer  in  thus  dealing  with 
rationalized  Protestants.  His  eye  was  quick  to  see  the  signs  of 
the  breaking  up  of  dogmatic  Protestantism,  and  he  was  early  out 
among  the  vast  intellectual  wreckage,  endeavoring  to  catch  and 
tow  into  port  what  fragments  he  could  of  a  system  founded  on 
doubt  and  on  the  denial  of  human  virtue  and  human  intelligence. 
"  I  want,"  he  said  on  one  occasion  in  private,  "  to  open  the 
way  to  the  Church  to  rationalists.  It  seems  to  me  to  be  now 
closed  up.  I  feel  that  I  am  a  pioneer  in  opening  and  leading 
the  way.  /  smuggled  myself  into  the  Church,  and  so  did 
Brownson."  And  now  he  wanted  to  abolish  the  custom-house, 
and  open  the  harbor  wide  and  clear  for  the  entrance  into  the 
Church  of  ail  men  who  had  been  forced  back  on  reason  alone  for 
guidance.  The  words  above  italicised  were  uttered  with  powerful 
emphasis  and  with  much  feeling.  He  quoted  the  following  saying 
of  Ozanam  with  emphatic  approval :  "  What  the  age  needs  is  an 
intellectual  crusade";  and  he  affirmed  that  Leo  XIII.  had  done 
very  much  to  aid  us  in  preaching  it,  and  that  Pius  IX,  rightly 
understood,  had  led  the  way  to  it.  "The  Catholics  I  would  help 
with  my  left  hand,  the  Protestants  with  my  right  hand,"  he 
once  said.  And  non-Catholics,  all  but  the  bigots,  liked  him, 
for  he  was  frank  and  true  by  every  test.  He  was  neither  an 
exotic  nor  a  hybrid,  and  they  felt  at  home  with  him.  He  much  re- 
sembled the  best  type  of  public  men  in  America  who  have 
achieved  fame  at  the  bar  or  in  politics  ;  indeed,  as  we  have  al- 
ready intimated,  he  really  belonged  to  that  type,  for  all  his 
studies  and  all  his  training  in  the  Catholic  schools  and  convents, 
which    had  given  him    more  and  more  of    truth,  more  and    more 


Father  Hecker  s  Lectures.  345 


of  the  grace  of  God,  had  not  changed  the  kind  or  type  of  man 
to  which  he  belonged.  He  was  the  same  character  as  when  he 
harangued  the  Seventh  Ward  voters,  or  discussed  the  Divine 
Transcendence  at  Brook  Farm.  Scholastic  truth  sank  deep  into 
his  soul,  but  scholastic  methods  stuck  on  the  surface  and  then 
dropped  away.  "  And  David  having  girded  his  sword  upon  his 
armor  began  to  try  if  he  could  walk  in  armor,  for  he  was  not 
accustomed  to  it.  And  David  said  to  Saul,  I  cannot  go  thus, 
for  I  am  not  used  to  it.  And  he  laid  them  oft.  And  he  took 
his  staff  which  he  had  always  in  his  hands,  and  chose  him  five 
smooth  stones  out  of  the  brook." 

If  his  duties  in  the  Paulist  community  and  parish  had  allowed, 
Father  Hecker  could  have  lectured  to  large  audiences  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  year,  and  been  well  paid  for  his  labor.  He 
soon  became  the  foremost  exponent  of  Catholicity  on  the  public 
platform  in  the  United  States.  From  the  close  of  the  war  till  his 
health  gave  way  in  1872  he  was  much  sought  after  for  lectures, 
and  spoke  in  the  different  cities  and  very  many  of  the  large  towns, 
besides  being  obliged  to  refuse  numerous  applications,  constantly 
coming  in  from  all  parts  of  the  Union  and  from  all  sorts  of  socie- 
ties, secular,  Catholic,  and  even  distinctly  Protestant.  Meantime 
he  was  frequently  called  on  to  preach  on  such  occasions  as  the 
laying  of  corner-stones  of  churches  and  their  dedications.  He 
also  gave  one  of  the  sermons  preached  before  the  Second  Plenary 
Council    of  Baltimore. 

The  following  is  the  introductory  paragraph  of  a  long  charac- 
ter sketch  of  Father  Hecker  from  the  pen  of  James  Parton,  the 
historian.  It  is  taken  from  an  article  entitled  "  Our  Roman  Catholic 
Brethren,"  published  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  for  April  and  May, 
1868.  The  entire  article  is  full  of  admiration  for  the  Catholic 
Church  and  of  yearning  towards  her,  though  written  by  a  typical 
sceptic  of  this  era : 

"  As  usual  with  them  |  Catholics]  it  is  one  man  who  is  working 
this  new  and  most  effective  idea  [the  Catholic  Publication  Society]  ; 
but,  as  usual  with  them  also,  this  one  rain  is  working  by  and 
through  an  organization  which  multiplies  his  force  one  hundred 
times  and  constitutes  him  a  person  of  national  importance. 
Readers  who  take  note  of  the  really  important  things  transpiring 
around  them  will  know  at  once  that  the  individual  referred  to  is 
Father  Hecker,  Superior  of  the  Community  of  the  Paulists,  in  New 
York.     .     .     .      It  is  he  [Father  Hecker]  who  is  putting  American 


346  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


machinery  into  the  ancient  ark  and  getting  ready  to  run  her  by 
steam.  Here,  for  once,  is  a  happy  man — happy  in  his  faith  and  in 
his  work — sure  that  in  spreading  abroad  the  knowledge  of  the  true 
Catholic  doctrine  he  is  doing  the  best  thing  possible  for  his  native 
land.  A  tall,  healthy- looking,  robust,  handsome,  cheerful  gentle- 
man of  forty-five,  endowed  with  a  particular  talent  for  winning 
confidence  and  regard,  which  talent  has  been  improved  by  many 
years  of  active  exercise.  It  is  a  particular  pleasure  to  meet  with 
any  one,  at  such  a  time  as  this,  whose  work  perfectly  satisfies 
his  conscience,  his  benevolence,  and  his  pride,  and  who  is  doing 
that  work  in  the  most  favorable  circumstances,  and  with  the  best 
co-operation.  Imagine  a  benevolent  physician  in  a  populous  hos- 
pital, who  has  in  his  office  the  medicine  which  he  is  perfectly 
certain  will  cure  or  mitigate  every  case,  provided  only  he  can  get 
it  taken,  and  who  is  surrounded  with  a  corps  of  able  and  zealous 
assistants  to  aid  him  in  persuading  the  patients  to  take  it !  ,: 

Mr.  Parton  having  given  us  a  picture  of  Father  Hecker  as 
he  apoeared  to  Protestants,  the  following  exhibits  him  as  Catho- 
lics saw  him.  It  is  an  extract  from  Father  Lockhart's  clever 
book,  The  Old  Religion ;  the  original  of  Father  Dilke  is  Father 
Hecker : 

"  The  day  after  our  last  conversation,  having    an    introduction 

to  the    Superior  of    the Fathers    in    New  York,    my  friends 

agreed  to  accompany  me.  I  was  particularly  glad  of  this  because 
Father  Dilke  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  our  Church 
in  the  States.  Himself  a  convert,  and  a  man  of  large  views  and 
great  sympathies,  no  one  was  better  able  to  enter  into  the  scru- 
ples and  difficulties  of  religious  Protestants  on  their  first  contact 
with   Catholic  doctrines  and   Catholic  worship. 

"  On  sending  in  our  names  we  had  not  long  to  wait  in  the 
guest-room  before  the  good  father  made  his  appearance.  There 
was  a  stamp  of  originality  about  him;  tall  in  stature,  not  exactly 
what  we  are  used  to  call  clerical  in  appearance,  with  a  thoroughly 
American  type  of  face,  and  with  the  national  peaked  beard  in- 
stead of  being  closely  shaven  as  is  the  custom  with  our  clergy 
generally.  I  had  met  him  before,  without  his  clerical  [religious] 
garb,  on  a  journey  on  board  a  steamboat.  At  first,  I  remember,  I 
had  sut  him  down  as  a  Yankee  skipper  or  trader  of  some  sort;  but 
when  by  chance  we  got  into  conversation,  I  found  him  a  hard-headed 
man,  shrewd,  original,  and  earnest  in  his  remarks;  but  when 
our  conversation  turned  to  religious  topics,  and  got  animated,  I 
shall  never  forget  how  all  that  was  common  and  national  in  his 
physique  disappeared.  And  when  he  spoke  of  the  mystery  of 
God's    love    for    man,    his    countenance  seemed    as  it  were  trans- 


Father  Heckcrs  Lectures.  347 


figured,  so  that  I  felt  that  an  artist  would  not  wish  for  a  better 
living  model  from  which  to  piint  a  St.  Francis  Xavier,  making 
himself  all  things  to  all  men  amidst  his  shipmates  on  his  voyage 
to  the  Indies." 

From  what  has  been  said  of  Father  Hecker's  aptitude  to  win 
non-Catholics  to  hear  and  believe  him,  it  should  not  be  thought 
that  in  order  to  do  so  he  was  obliged  to  leave  off  any  sign  of 
his  priestly  character.  lie  was  distinctly  priestly  in  his  demeanor, 
though,  as  already  observed,  not  exactly  what  one  would  call  a 
thorough  "ecclesiastic."  He  ever  dressed  soberly.  When  he 
arrived  at  a  town  on  a  lecture  tour  he  always  put  up  at  the  house 
of  the  resident  priest,  if  there  was  one,  and,  if  he  stayed  over  Sun- 
day, preached  for  him  at  High  Mass.  He  invariably  corresponded 
beforehand  with  the  pastor  of  the  town  to  which  he  was  invited  by 
a  secular  lecture  society,  requesting  him  to  send  complimentary 
tickets  to  the  leading  men  of  the  place — lawyers,  doctors,  minis- 
ters, merchants,  and  politicians.  And  when  he  appeared  on  the 
platform  it  was  always  in  company  with  the  priest.  He  loved 
priests  with  all  his  might  and  was  ever  at  home  in  their  com- 
pany. It  is  not  very  singular,  therefore,  that  some  of  his  most  de- 
voted friends  and  most  (ard  entadmirers  were  priests,  secular  and 
religious,  born  and  bred  in  the  Old  World — among  them  some  of» 
the  most  prominent  clergymen   in  the  country. 

Father  Hecker  often  met  non-Catholics  in  private,  being  sought 
out  by  prominent  radicals,  sceptics,  unbelievers,  and  humanita- 
rians. What  they  had  heard  from  him  in  public  lectures,  or  read 
of  him  in  the  press,  drew  them  to  him,  or  they  were  brought 
to  see  him  by  mutual  friends.  And  here  he  was  indeed  power- 
ful, overbearing  resistance  by  the  strength  of  conviction  and  the 
simple  exhibition  of  Catholic  truth.  The  sight  of  a  man  any- 
where, whom  he  could  but  suspect  of  aptitude  for  his  views,  was 
the  signal  for  his  emphatic  affirmation  of  them,  sometimes  lead- 
ing him  to  controversy  bordering  on  the  vociferous  on  cars 
and  steamboats.  In  such  circumstances,  and  in  all  his  other 
dealings  with  men,  you  saw  his  prompt  intelligence,  his  fine  sen- 
sibility, his  lofty  spirit,  his  forceful  and  occasionally  imperious 
will  to  hold  you  to  the  point ;  but  the  quality  which,  both  in 
public  and  private  discourse,  outshone  all,  or  rather  gave  all 
light  and  direction,  was  an  immense  love  of  truth  joined  to  an 
equal  admiration  for  virtue. 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

THE   APOSTOLATE   OF  THE   PRESS. 

ONE  Sunday  forenoon,  happening  to  cross  Broadway  near  a 
fashionable  Protestant  church,  we  saw  the  curb  on  both  sides 
of  the  street  lined  with  carriages,  and  the  coachmen  and  foot- 
men all  reading  the  morning  papers.  The  rich  master  and  his 
family  were  in  the  softly-cushioned  pews  indoors,  while  their  ser- 
vants studied  the  news  of  the  world  and  worshipped  at  the 
shrine  of  the  Press  outside :  a  spectacle  suggestive  of  many 
things  to  the  social  reformer.  But  to  a  religious  mind  it  was  an 
invitation  to  the  Apostolate  of  the  Press.  The  Philips  of  our  day 
can  evangelize  the  rough  charioteer  by  means  of  the  written 
word  as  easily  as  they  can  his  cultured  master. 

To  Father  Hecker  the  Press  was  the  highest  opportunity  for 
religion.  The  only  term  of  comparison  for  it  is  some  element  of 
nature  like  sunlight  or  the  atmosphere.  In  the  Press  civilized 
man  lives  and  breathes.  Father  Hecker  was  as  alive  to  the  in- 
jury done  to  humanity  by  bad  reading  as  a  skilful  physician  is 
to  the  malaria  which  he  can  smell  and  fairly  taste  in  an  infected 
atmosphere ;  and  he  ever  strove  to  make  the  Press  a  means  of 
enlightenment  and  virtue.  He  began  to  write  for  publication 
almost  immediately  after  his  arrival  in  America  as  a  Redemp- 
torist  missionary ;  the  Questions  of  the  Soul  and  the  Aspirations 
of  Nature  were  composed  amidst  most  absorbing  occupations  be- 
tween 1853  and  1858.  Throughout  life  he  was  ever  asking  him- 
self and  others  how  the  Press  could  be  cleansed,  and  how  its 
Apostolate  could  be  inaugurated.  To  this  end  he  was  ready  to 
devote  all  his  efforts,  and  expend  all  his  resources  and  those  of 
the  community  of  which  he  was  the  founder.  It  is  true  that  no 
man  of  his  time  was  better  aware  of  the  power  of  the  spoken 
word,  and  few  were  more  competent  to  use  it,  the  natural  and 
Pentecostal  vehicle  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  men's  souls.  But  he 
also  felt  that  the  providence  of  God,  in  making  the  Press  of  our 
day  an  artificial  medium  of  human  intercourse  more  universal 
than  the  living  voice  itself,  had  pointed  it  out  as  a  necessary  ad- 
junct to  the  oral  preaching  of  the  truth.  He  was  convinced  that 
religion  should  make  the  Press  its  own.  He  would  not  look 
upon  it  as  an  extraordinary  aid,  but  maintained  that  the  ordin- 
ary provision  of  Christian    instruction  for   the  people  should  ever 

348 


The  Apostolate  of  the  Press.  349 


be  two-fold,  by  speech  and  by  print :  neither  the  Preacher  with- 
out the  Press  nor  the  Press  without  the  Preacher.  He  was 
heard  to  say  that  in  reading  Montalembert's  Monks  of  the  West 
he  had  been  struck  with  the  author's  eloquent  apostrophe  to  the 
spade,  the  instrument  of  civilization  and  Christianity  for  the 
wild  hordes  of  the  early  middle  ages.  Much  rather,  he  said, 
should  we  worship  the  Press  as  the  medium  of  the  light  of  God 
to  all  mankind.  He  felt  that  the  Apostolate  of  the  Press  might 
well  absorb  the  external  vocation  of  the  most  active  friends  of 
religion. 

In  the  Press  he  found  a  distinct  suggestion  from  above  of  a 
change  of  methods  for  elevating  men  to  truth  and  virtue.  In 
the  spring  of  1870,  while  on  his  way  home  from  the  Vatican 
Council,  he  wrote  to  Father  Deshon  from  Assisi : 

"  I  felt  as  if  I  would  like  to  have  peopled  that  grand  and 
empty  convent  with  inspired  men  and  printing-presses.  For 
evidently  the  special  battle-field  of  attack  and  defence  of  truth 
for  half  a  century  to  come  is  the  printing-press." 

He  believed  in  types  as  he  believed  in  pulpits.  He  believed 
that  the  printing-office  was  necessary  to  the  convent.  To  him 
the  Apostolate  of  the  Press  meant  the  largest  amount  of  truth 
to  the  greatest  number  of  people.  By  its  means  a  small  band 
of  powerful  men  could  reach  an  entire  nation  and  elevate  its 
religious  life. 

This  being  understood,  one  is  not  surprised  at  the  extent  of 
his  plans  for  this  Apostolate.  He  was  never  able  to  carry  them 
out  fully.  Not  till  some  years  after  the  founding  of  the  commu- 
nity could  he  make  a  fair  beginning,  although  the  first  volume  of 
the  Paulist  Sermons  appeared  in  1861.  Delays  were  inevitable 
from  the  difficulties  incident  to  the  opening  of  the,  house  and 
church  in  Fifty-ninth  Street,  and  these  were  aggravated  by  the 
war,  which  for  over  four  years  bred  such  intense  excitement  as  to 
interfere  with  any  strong  general  interest  in  matters  other  than 
political.  But  the  very  month  it  ended,  in  April,  1865,  Father 
Hecker  started  The  Catholic  World.  Its  purpose  was  to  speak 
for  religion  in  high-grade  periodical  literature.  The  year  fol- 
lowing he  founded  The  Catholic  Publication  Society,  with  the 
purpose  of  directing  the  entire  resources  of  the  Press  into  a 
missionary    apostolate.     In   1870    he    began    The    Young  Catholic. 


350  The  Life  of  Father  Heeker. 

In  literary  merit  and  in  illustrations  it  equalled  any  of  the  juven- 
ile publications  of  that  period,  and  was  the  pioneer  of  all  the 
Catholic  journals  in  the  United  States  intended  for  children. 
And  finally,  in  1 871,  he  projected  the  establishment  of  a  first- 
class  Catholic  daily,  securing  within  a  year  subscriptions  for 
more  than  half  the  money  necessary  for  the  purpose,  when  the 
work  was  arrested  by  the  final  breaking  down  of  his  health. 

The  Catholic  World  was  considered  a  hazardous  venture. 
At  the  time  it  was  proposed,  such  modest  attempts  at  Catholic 
monthlies  as  had  struggled  into  life  had  long  ceased  to  exist. 
The  public  for  such  a  magazine  seemed  to  be  small.  The  priest- 
hood had  little  leisure  for  reading,  being  hardly  sufficient  in  num- 
ber for  their  most  essential  duties ;  the  educated  laymen  were 
not  numerous,  nor  remarkable  for  activity  of  mind  in  matters  of 
religion ;  nearly  the  entire  Church  of  America  was  foreign  by 
birth  or  parentage,  and  belonged  to  the  toiling  masses  of  the 
people :  "  not  many  rich,  not  many  noble."  And,  Father  Heeker 
was  asked,  whom  are  you  going  to  get  to  write  for  the  maga- 
zine ?  How  many  Catholic  literary  men  and  women  do  you  know 
of?  Prudence,  therefore,  stood  sponsor  to  courage.  The  cau- 
tious policy  of  an  eclectic  was  adopted,  and  for  more  than  a 
year  the  magazine,  with  the  exception  of  its  book  reviews,  was 
made  up  of  selections  and  translations  from  foreign  periodicals. 
The  late  John  R.  G.  Hassard,  who  had  already  succeeded  as  a 
journalist,  was  chosen  by  Father  Heeker  as  his  assistant  in  the 
editorial  work.  Efforts  were  at  once  made  to  secure  original  ar- 
ticles ;  but  before  the  magazine  was  filled  by  them  three  or  four 
years  were  spent  in  urgent  soliciting,  in  very  elaborate  sub-edit- 
ing of  MSS.,  and  in  reliance  on  the  steady  assistance  of  the 
pens  of  the  Paulist  Fathers.  As  a  compensation,  The  Catho- 
lic World  has  introduced  to  the  public  many  of  our  best 
writers,  and*  first  and  last  has  brought  our  ablest  minds  on  both 
sides  of  the  water  into  contact  wi'Ji  the  most  intelligent  Catho- 
lics in  the  United  States.  All  through  its  career  it  has  repre- 
sented Catholic  truth  before  the  American  public  in  such  wise  as 
to  command  respect,  and  has  brought  about  the  conversion  of 
many  of  its  non-Catholic  readers.  Since  its  beginning  it  has 
been  forced  to  hold  its  own  against  the  claims  of  not  unwelcome 
rivals,  and  against  the  almost  overwhelming  attractions  of  the 
great  illustrated  secular  monthlies,  to  say  nothing  o.f  the  vicissi- 
tudes of   the  business   world  ;  and    it   has  succeeded    in  doing  so. 


The  A  postulate  of  the  Press.  351 


Father  Hecker's  purpose  in  establishing  it  has  been  realized,  for 
it  has  ever  been  a  first-rate  Catholic  monthly  of  general  litera- 
ture, holding  an  equal  place  with  similar  publications  in  the 
world  of  letters.  He  was  its  editor-in-chief  till  the  time  of  his 
death,  except  during  three  years  of  illness  and  absence  in 
Europe.  He  conducted  it  so  as  to  occupy  much  of  the  field 
open  to  the  Apostolate  of  the  Press,  giving  solid  doctrine  in 
form  of  controversy,  and  discussing  such  religious  truths  as  were 
of  current  interest.  He  kept  its  readers  informed  of  the  change- 
ful moods  of  non-Catholic  thought,  and  furnished  them  with 
short  studies  of  instructive  eras  and  personages  in  history. 
These  graver  topics  have  been  floated  along  by  contributions  of 
a  lighter  kind,  by  good  fiction  and  conscientious  literary  criti- 
cism. Meantime,  the  social  problems  which  had  perplexed 
Father  Hecker  himself  in  his  early  life,  have  caught  the  atten- 
tion of  the  slower  minds  of  average  men,  or  rather  have  been 
thrust  upon  them  ;  and  their  consideration,  ever  in  his  own  sym- 
pathetic spirit,  now  forms  a  prominent  feature  of  The  Catholic 
World. 

The  Young  Catholic  was  an  enterprise  dear  to  his  heart.  His 
interest  in  it  was  constant  and  minute,  and  some  of  the  articles 
most  popular  with  its  young  constituency  were  from  his  own 
pen.  It  has  always  been  edited  by  Mrs.  George  V.  Hecker,  as- 
sisted by  a  small  circle  of  zealous  and  enlightened  writers.  It 
has  held  its  way,  but  has  had  to  encounter  the  not  unusual  fate 
of  bold  pioneers.  It  created  its  own  rivals  by  demonstrating  the 
possibilities  of  juvenile  Catholic  journalism,  calling  into  existence 
more  than  a  score  of  claimants  for  the  support  which  it  alone 
at  first  solicited.  The  lowest  estimate  of  juvenile  publications  of  a 
purely  secular  tone  yearly  sold  in  America  carries  the  figure  far 
into  the  millions.  Some  of  these,  and  it  is  well  to  know  that  they 
are  the  most  widely  sold,  are  first-rate  in  a  literary  point  of 
view  and  employ  the  best  artists  for  the  pictures.  To  say  that 
they  are  secular  but  feebly  expresses  the  totally  unmoral  influ- 
ence they  for  the  most  part  exert.  They  are  the  extension  of 
the  unreligious  school  into  the  homes  of  the  people.  When 
Father  Hecker  and  Mrs.  George  V.  Hecker  and  their  associates 
began  The  Young  Catholic,  this  vast  mirage  of  the  desert  of  life 
had  but  glimmered  upon  the  distant  horizon  ;  they  saw  it  com- 
ing and  they  did  their  best  to  point  Catholic  youth  away  from 
it  and  lead  it    to    the  real  oasis  of    God,  with    its  grateful    shade, 


352  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

its  delicious  fruits,  and    its   ever-flowing    springs    of    the  waters  of 
life. 

As  already  said,  The  Catholic  Publication  Society  was  begun  a 
year  after  The  Catholic  World  was  started,  its  aim  being  to 
turn  to  the  good  of  religion,  and  especially  to  the  conversion  of 
non-Catholics,  all  the  uses  the  press  is  capable  of.  It  was  a  mis- 
sionary work  in  the  broadest  sense  seeking  to  enlist  not  only 
the  clergy  but  especially  the  laity  in  an  organized  Apostolate  of 
the  Press,  to  enlighten  the  faith  of  Catholics  and  to  spread  it 
among  their  Protestant  fellow-citizens.  Its  first  work  was  to  be 
the  issuing  of  tracts  and  pamphlets  telling  the  plain  truth  about 
the  Catholic  religion.  Local  societies,  to  be  established  through- 
out the  country,  were  to  buy  these  publications  at  a  price  less 
than  cost,  and  distribute  them  gratis  to  all  classes  likely  to  be 
benefited.  To  catch  the  eye  of  the  American  people,  to  affect 
their  hearts,  to  supply  their  religious  wants  with  Catholic  truth, 
were  objects  kept  in  view  in  preparing  the  tracts.  Although 
some  of  them  were  addressed  to  Catholics,  enforcing  important 
religious  duties,  nearly  all  of  them  were  controversial.  More 
than  seventy  different  tracts  were  printed  first  and  last,  and  many 
hundreds  of  thousands,  indeed  several  millions,  of  them  distrib- 
uted in  all  parts  of  the  country,  public,  charitable,  and  penal  in- 
stitutions being,  of  course,  fair  field  for  this  work.  They  were 
all  very  brief,  few  of  them  covering  more  than  four  small-sized 
pages.  "  Three  pages  of  truth  have  before  now  overturned  a 
life-time  of  error,"  said  Father  Hecker.  The  tract  Is  it  Honest? 
though  only  four  pages  of  large  type,  or  about  twelve  hundred 
words,  created  a  sensation  everywhere,  and  was  answered  by 
a  Protestant  minister  with  over  fifty  pages  of  printed  matter, 
or  about  fifteen  times  more  than  the  tract  itself.  One  hundred 
thousand  copies  of  this  tract  were  distributed  in  New  York  City 
alone.  It  is  printed  herewith  as  a  specimen,  both  as  to  style  and 
matter,  of  what  one  may  call  the  aggressive-defensive  tactics  in 
Catholic  controversy : 

Is  it  Honest 

To  say  that  the  Catholic  Church  prohibits  the  use  of  the  Bible — 
When  anybody  who  chooses  can  buy  as  many  as  he  likes  at  any  Catholic 
bookstore,  and  can  see  on  the  first  page  of  any  one  of  them  the  approbation  of  the 
Bishops  of  the  Catholic  Church,  with  the  Pope  at  their  head,  encouraging  Catho- 
lics to  read  the  Bible,  in  these  words  :  "  The  faithful  should  be  excited  to  the  read- 
ing of  the  Holy  Scriptures,"  and  that  not  only  for  the  Catholics  of  the  United 
States,  but  also  for  those  of  the  whole  world  besides  ? 


The  Apostolatc  of  the  Press.  353 

Is  it  Honest 

To  say  that  CatJiolics  believe  that  man  by  his  own  power  can  forgive  sin — 
When  the  priest  is  regarded  by  the  Catholic  Church  only  as  the  agent  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  acting  by  the  power  delegated  to  him,  according  to  these 
words,  •'  Whose  sins  you  shall  forgive,  they  are  forgiven  them ;  and  whose  sins  you 
shall  retain,  they  are  retained  ?  "  (St.  John  xx.  23). 

Is  it  Honest 

To  repeat  over  and  over  again  that  Catholics  pay  the  priest   to  pardon  their 

sins — 

When  such  a  thing  is  unheard  of  anywhere  in  the  Catholic  Church — 

When  any  transaction  of  the  kind  is  stigmatized  as  a  grievous  sin,  and  ranked 

along  with  murder,  adultery,    blasphemy,  etc.,  in  every  catechism  and  work  on 

Catholic  theology  ? 

Is  it  Honest 

To  persist  in  saying-  that  Catholics  believe  their  sins  are  forgiven  merely  by 
the  confession  of  them  to  the  priest,  without  a  true  sorrow  for  them,  or  a 
true  purpose  to  quit  them — 

When  ever}-  child  finds  the  contrary  distinctly  and  clearly  stated  in  the  cate- 
chism, which  he  is  obliged  to  learn  before  he  can  be  admitted  to  the  sacraments? 
Any  honest  man  can  verify  this  statement  by  examining  any  Catholic  catechism. 

Is  it  Honest 

To  assert  that  the  Catholic  Church  grants  any  indulgence  or  permission  to  com- 
mit sin — 

When  an  "  indulgence,"  according  to  her  universally  received  doctrine,  was 
never  dreamed  of  by  Catholics  to  imply,  in  any  case  whatever,  any  permission  to 
commit  the  least  sin  ;  and  when  an  indulgence  has  no  application  whatever  to  sin 
until  after  sin  has  been  repented  of  and  pardoned  ? 

Is  it  Honest 

To  accuse  Catholics  of  putting  the  Blessed  Virgin  or  the  Saints  in  the  place  of 

God  or  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ — 

When  the  Council  of  Trent  declares  that  it  is  simply  useful  to  ask  their  inter- 
cession in  order  to  obtain  favor  from  God,  through  his  Son,  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord, 
who  alone  is  our  Saviour  and  Redeemer — 

When  "  asking  their  prayers  and  influence  with  God  "  is  exactly  of  the  same 
nature  as  when  Christians  ask  the  pious  prayers  of  one  another  ? 

Is  it  Honest 

To  accuse   Catholics  of  paying  divine  worship  to  images  or  pictures,  as  the 

heathen  do — 
When  every  Catholic  indignantly  repudiates  any  idea  of  the  kind,  and  when 
the  Council  of  Trent  distinctly  declares  the  doctrine  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  re- 
gard to  them  to  be,  "  that  there  is  no  divinity  or  virtue  in  them  which  should  ap- 
pear to  claim  the  tribute  of  one's  veneration  "  ;  but  that  "  all  the  honor  which  is 
paid  to  them  shall  be  referred  to  the  originals  whom  they  are  designed  to  repre- 
sent?" (Sess.  25). 


354  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

Is  it  Honest 
To  make  these  and  many  other  similar  charges  against  Catholics — 

When  they  detest  and  abhor  such  false  doctrines  more  than  those  do  who 
make  them,  and  make  them,  too,  without  ever  having  read  a  Catholic  book,  or 
taken  any  honest  means  of  ascertaining  the  doctrines  which  the  Catholic  Church 
really  teaches  ? 

Remember  the  commandment  of  God,  which  says :  "  Thou  shalt  not  bear 
false  witness  against  thy  neighbor." 

Reader,  would  you  be  honest,  and  do  no  injustice  ?  Then  examine  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Catholic  Church  ;  read  the  works  of  Catholics.  See  both  sides. 
Examine,  and  be  fair;  for  AMERICANS  LOVE  FAIR  PLAY. 

In  preparing  these  little  messengers  of  truth  every  style  of 
writing  was  used,  narrative,  allegory,  dialogue,  and  positive  argu- 
ment. They  are  as  good  reading  to-day  as  when  first  issued, 
and  the  volume  which  they  form  may  be  placed  in  an  inquirer's 
hands  with  excellent  effect.  To  keep  them  agoing  Father 
Hecker  laid  all  his  friends  of  any  literary  ability  under  contribu- 
tion, the  series  being  opened  by  Archbishop  Spalding  with  a 
tract  on  Religions  lndijfcrentism.  Did  space  permit,  an  entire  list 
of  the  subjects  dealt  with  might  be  given,  and  the  reader  could 
the  better  see  how  they  embrace  the  entire  controversy  between 
Catholics  and  Protestants  and  infidels,  many  of  the  tracts  being 
masterpieces  of  popular  argumentation. 

As  to  the  business  side  of  these  enterprises,  Father  Hecker 
confided  it  to  Mr.  Lawrence  Kehoe,  who  was  publisher  of  The 
Catholic  World  and  of  The  Young  Catholic  from  their  begin- 
ning until  the  Paulists  became  their  own  publishers,  shortly 
before  Mr.  Kehoe's  death.  He  was  placed  in  charge  of  the 
Publication  Society  as  manager  when  it  was  started,  and  so  con- 
tinued until  the  formation  of  the  present  firm,  remaining  then 
the  active  partner  in  its  management.  No  more  ardent  advo- 
cate of  a  good  cause  could  be  desired  than  Lawrence  Kehoe. 
Father  Hecker  cherished  him  as  a  friend,  and  he  was  his 
zealous  and  efficient  agent  in  his  entire  Apostolate  of  the 
Press. 

The  purpose  of  the  Publication  Society  was  missionary,  and 
the  intention  was  that  its  books,  tracts,  and  pamphlets  should  be 
either  given  away  or  sold  at  cost  price,  or  below  it.  Therefore 
it  was  necessary  to  secure  funds  for  the  running  expenses.  The 
reader  has  seen  that  this  was  to  have  been  done  by  the  contri- 
butions of  subsidiary  societies.     To  aid  in  the  formation  of  these 


The  Apostolate  of  the  Press.  355 

and  to  solicit  contributions  in  money,  circulars  were  sent  to  all 
the  clergy  of  the  United  States.  Only  a  few  made  any  practical 
response.  But  the  meeting  of  the  Second  Plenary  Council  of 
Baltimore  in  1866,  the  same  year  the  Society  was  founded,  was 
opportune.  The  bishops  were  induced  to  take  the  matter  up, 
and  a  decree,  of  which  the  following  is  a  translation,  was 
enacted.  After  speaking  of  the  need  of  supplying  Catholic 
literature  at  a  low  price  the  Council  proceeds  : 

"  Since  a  society  with  this  object  in  view,  known  as  The 
Catholic  Publication  Society,  has  been  founded  in  New  York, 
and  has  been  so  far  conducted  with  commendable  diligence  and 
with  notable  success,  we  therefore  consider  it  to  be  entirely 
worthy  of  the  favor  and  assistance  of  prelates  and  priests,  as 
well  as  of  the  Catholic  people  in  general.  That  the  whole  coun- 
try may  the  better  and  more  certainly  share  in  its  advantages, 
we  advise  and  exhort  the  bishops  to  establish  branches  of  this 
Society  in  their  dioceses,  by  means  of  whose  officers  the  publica- 
tions of  the  Society  may  be  distributed.  But  as  without  great 
expenditure  of  money  these  societies  cannot  be  kept  up  and 
must  fail  of  success,  the  bishops  shall  therefore  appoint  a  yearly 
collection  for  their  support,  to  be  taken  up  in  all  the  principal 
churches,  or  shall  make  other  provision  for  the  same  purpose 
according  to  their  best  judgment "  (Con.  Plen.  Bait.,  §  500). 

From  the  Pastoral  Letter  of  the  same  Council  we  extract  the 
following  : 

"  In  connection  with  this  matter  [the  Catholic  Press]  we  earn- 
estly recommend  to  the  faithful  of  our  charge  The  Catholic 
Publication  Society,  lately  established  in  the  city  of  New  York 
by  a  zealous  and  devoted  clergyman.  Besides  the  issuing  of 
short  tracts  with  which  this  Society  has  begun,  and  which  may 
be  usefully  employed  to  arrest  the  attention  of  many  whom 
neither  inclination  nor  leisure  will  allow  to  read  larger  works, 
this  Society  contemplates  the  publication  of  Catholic  books, 
according  as  circumstances  may  permit  and  the  interests  of  re- 
ligion appear  to  require.  From  the  judgment  and  good  taste 
evinced  in  the  composition  and  selection  of  such  tracts  and 
books  as  have  already  been  issued  by  this  Society,  we  are  en- 
couraged to  hope  that  it  will  be  eminently  effective  in  making 
known  the  truths  of  our  holy  religion,  and  dispelling  the  preju- 
dices which  are  mainly  owing  to  want  of  information  on  the 
part  of  so  many  of  our  fellow-citizens.  For  this  it  is  neces- 
sary that  a  generous  co-operation  be  given  both  by  clergy  and 
laity  to  the  undertaking,  which  is  second  to  none  in  impor- 
tance among  the  subsidiary  aids  which  the  inventions  of  modern 
times  supply  to  our  ministry  for  the  diffusion  of  Catholic  truth." 


356  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

How  elated  Father  Hecker  was  by  this  action  of  the  Council, 
and  how  over-sanguine,  as  the  event  proved,  of  the  future  of  the 
Society,  is  shown  by  the  following  extracts  from  letters  to  a 
friend  : 

"  My  efforts  in  the  recent  Council  were  completely  successful, 
owing  to  the  many  prayers  offered  to  God — yours  not  the  least. 
Could  you  have  seen  the  letters  from  different  quarters,  from 
good  pious  nuns,  and  persons  loving  and  serving  and  fearing 
God  in  the  world,  written  to  me,  and  their  writers  all  praying 
and  doing  works  of  mercy  and  mortification  for  the  purposes  I 
had  in  view,  you  could  not  wonder  at  my  success.  God  did  it. 
What  is  more,  I  was  fully  conscious  of  the  fact,  and  it  is  this 
that  made  my  great  joy. 

"  The  Catholic  Publication  Society  has  the  unanimous  con- 
sent, and  sympathy,  and  co-operation  of  the  entire  episcopate 
and  clergy.  Every  year  there  is  a  collection  to  be  taken  up  in 
the  principal  churches  for  its  support.  I  have  drawn  an  ele- 
phant, but  I  do  not  feel  like  the  man  who  did  not  know  what 
to  do  with  him  after  he  had  got    him." 

"  It  is  good  in  God  to  place  me  in  a  position  in  which  I  can 
act  efficiently.  The  disposition  towards  me  is,  I  know,  most 
pleasant  and  favorable.  I  have  been  placed  where  I  shall  be  at 
liberty  to  act  and  direct  action.  Quietly  pray  for  me  as  the 
Holy  Spirit  may  suggest.  On  my  part  I  will  also  seek  the  same 
guidance.     How  good  God  is  to  give  it  !  " 

The  Council  had  hardly  adjourned  when  it  began  to  be  plain 
that  in  legislating  for  The  Catholic  Publication  Society  the  pre- 
lates had  been  over-stimulated  by  the  zeal  of  Archbishop  Spald- 
ing and  the  personal  influence  of  Father  Hecker  himself,  who 
was  present  in  his  capacity  of  Superior  of  the  Paulists.  He 
went  among  the  bishops  and  pleaded  for  the  Apostolate  of  the 
Press  with  characteristic  vigor,  and  with  his  usual  success. 
Aided  by  the  archbishop,  he  lifted  the  Fathers  of  the  Council 
for  a  moment  above  what  in  their  sober  senses  they  deemed 
the  exclusive  duty  of  the  hour.  This  was  to  provide  churches 
and  priests,  and  schools  and  school-teachers,  for  the  people.  Al- 
ready far  too  numerous  for  their  clergy,  the  Catholic  people 
were  increasing  by  immigration  alone  at  the  rate  of  more  than 
a  quarter  of  a  million  a  year.  Every  effort  must  be  con- 
centrated, it    was    thought,    and    every    penny    spent,  in    the  vast 


The  A  postdate  of  the  Press.  357 


work  of  housing  and  feeding  the  wandering  flocks  of  the 
Lord.  And  certainly  the  magnitude  of  the  task  and  the  suc- 
cess attained  in  performing  it  can  excuse  the  indifference  shown 
to  the  Apostolate  of  the  Press,  if  anything  can  excuse  it.  But  it 
seemed  otherwise  to  Father  Hecker,  as  it  does  now  to  us.  For 
the  Catholic  people  could  have  been  better  and  earlier  cared  for 
in  their  spiritual  concerns  if  furnished  with  the  abundant  supply 
of  good  reading  which  the  carrying  out  of  Father  Hecker's  plan 
would  have  given  them,  and  that  at  no  great  expense.  What 
substitute  for  a  priest  is  equal  to  a  good  book?  What  vocation 
to  the  priesthood  has  not  found  its  origin  in  the  pages  of  a 
good  book,  or  at  any  rate  been  fostered  by  its  devout  lessons? 
And  all  history  as  well  as  experience  proves  that  the  best  guar- 
antee of  the  faith  of  a  Catholic,  moving  amidst  kindly-disposed 
non-Catholic  neighbors,  is  the  aggressive  force  of  missionary  zeal. 
The  Publication  Society,  if  brought  into  active  play,  would  have 
done  much  to  create  this  zeal,  and  would  have  supplied  its  best 
arms  of  attack  and  defence  by  an  abundance  of  free  Catholic 
reading.  It  would  have  helped  on  every  good  work  by  auxil- 
iary forces  drawn  from  intelligent  faith  and  instructed  zeal. 

A  closer  view  of  the  case  shows  that  antecedents  of  a  racial 
and  social  character  among  the  people  had  something  to  do  with 
the  apathy  we  have  been  considering.  To  a  great  degree  it  still 
rests  upon  us,  though  such  organized  efforts  as  the  Catholic 
Truth  Society  of  St.  Paul,  Minnesota,  and  the  Holy  Ghost 
Society  of  New  Orleans  indicate  a  change  for  the  better. 

Had  Father  Hecker  continued  in  good,  health  there  is  a 
chance,  though  a  desperate  one,  that  he  might  have  overcome 
all  obstacles.  Many  zealous  souls  would  have  followed  his  lead. 
As  a  specimen  we  may  name  the  Vicar-General  of  San  Francisco, 
Father  Prendergast,  who,  with  the  help  of  a  few  earnest  friends, 
raised  several  thousand  dollars  in  gold  in  that  diocese  alone. 
But  in  1 87 1  Father  Hecker's  strength  began  to  fail,  and  in  the 
following  year  his  active  life  was  done.  As  already  shown,  it 
had  been  the  intention  to  establish  branch  societies  everywhere, 
whose  delegates  would  regularly  meet  and  control  the  entire 
work,  giving  the  Church  in  America  an  approved,  powerful  aux- 
iliary dominantly  made  up  of  laymen.  In  that  sense  the  Society 
never  was  so  much  as  organized,  the  number  of  branch 
societies  not  at  any  time  warranting  such  a  step  as  a  general 
meeting    of   their    representatives.     The    money  actually  collected 


358  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 


was  all  spent  in  printing  and  circulating  the  tracts  and  other 
publications  given  away  or  sold  below  cost,  Father  Hecker 
and  the  Paulists  managing  the  entire  work.  When  the 
collections  gave  out,  Mr.  George  V.  Hecker  contributed  a 
large  sum  for  continuing  the  undertaking.  The  result  was 
his  finding  himself  in  the  publishing  business,  which  he  was 
compelled  to  place  as  far  as  possible  on  a  basis  to  meet  the  cur- 
rent outlay.  The  Society,  as  far  as  its  name  went,  thus  became 
a  Catholic  publishing  firm,  with  Mr.  Hecker  mainly  involved 
financially  and  Mr.  Kehoe  in  charge  of  the  business.  Mr. 
Hecker  sunk  a  small  fortune  in  the  Apostolate  of  the  Press, 
much  of  it  during  the  hard  times  between  1873  and  1876.  The 
history  of  the  whole  affair  is  as  curious  as  it  is  instructive,  and 
hence  we  have  given  a  pretty  full  account  of  it.  It  weighed 
heavy  on  Father  Hecker's  heart,  though  he  astonished  his  friends 
by  the  equanimity  with  which  he  accepted  its  failure.  His  work, 
if  it  did  not  perish  in  a  night  like  the  prophet's  gourd,  withered 
quickly  into  very  singular  form  and  narrow  proportions.  The 
amazement  of  Protestant  bigots  at  the  appearance  of  the  Catho- 
lic tracts,  speechless  and  clamorous  by  turns ;  the  quaker  guns 
of  the  Second  Plenary  Council,  and  the  bright  dreams  of  a  vig- 
orous attack  upon  the  enemy  all  along  the  line  and  by  all  classes 
of  clergy  and  laity — how  Father  Hecker  did  in  after  years  dis- 
cuss these  topics,  and  how  he  did  inspire  all  about  him  with  his 
own  enthusiastic  hopes  of  a  future  and  more  successful  effort! 
When  he  went  to  Europe  in  1873,  too  feeble  to  hope  for  recov- 
ery, leaving  the  enterprise  behind  him  in  the  same  condition  as 
his  own  broken  health,  how  unmurmuring  was  his  submission  to 
the  Divine  and  human  wills  which  had  brought  all  to  naught! 

Not  more  than  a  few  words  need  be  said  of  his  undertaking 
to  buy  a  New  York  daily  paper.  It  happened  that  in  1871  a 
prominent  journal,  a  member  of  the  Associated  Press,  could  be 
bought  for  three  hundred  thousand  dollars.  In  an  instant,  as  it 
seems,  Father  Hecker  giasped  the  opportunity.  By  personal  ap- 
peals to  the  rich  men  of  the  city  more  than  half  the  sum  re- 
quired was  subscribed,  Archbishop  McCloskey  heading  the  list 
with  a  large  amount.  But  soon  the  doctors  had  to  be  called  in, 
and  the  enterprise  went  no  further. 

How  Father  Hecker  appeared  to  men  when  advocating  the 
Apostolate  of  the  Press,  and  how  he  spread  the  forceful  majesty 
of    Catholicity    over    his  personal    surroundings,    is  shown  by  Mr. 


ws  ■  y 


Father    Hecker    in    1873. 
(From  a  photograph.) 


The  Apos folate  of  the  Press.  359 

James  Parton's  words  in  the  article  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  al- 
ready quoted  from :  "  The  special  work  of  this  [the  Paulist] 
community  is  to  bring  the  steam  printing-press  to  bear  upon  the 
spread  of  the  Catholic  religion  in  the  United  States."  The  re- 
sistless missionary  power  latent  in  the  Church  is  thus  spoken  of 
by  the  same   writer: 

"What  a  powerful  engine  is  this!  Suppose  the  six  ablest 
and  highest  Americans  were  living  thus,  freed  from  all  worldly 
cares,  in  an  agreeable,  secluded  abode,  yet  near  the  centre  of 
things,  with  twelve  zealous,  gifted  young  men  to  help  and  cheer 
them,  a  thousand  organizations  in  the  country  to  aid  in  dis- 
tributing their  writings,  and  in  every  town  a  spacious  edifice  and 
an  eager  audience  to  hang  upon  their  lips.  What  could  they  not 
effect  in  a  lifetime  of  well-directed  work?" 

What  follows,  taken  from  a  letter  of  Father  Hecker's  while 
sick  in  Europe  in  1874,  shows  one  of  his  aims  in  the  Apostolate 
of  the  Press.  It  is  suggestive  of  a  result  since  attained,  at  least 
partially,  in  more  than  one  religious  community  in  America: 

"  Monsignor  Mermillod  desired,  early  in  the  fall,  that  I  should 
see  Canon  Schorderet,  of  this  place  [Fribourg  in  Switzerland],  as 
he  was  engaged  zealously  with  the  press.  This  was  one  of  my 
principal  reasons  for  visiting  this  place.  My  surprise  has  been 
most  gratifying  in  finding  that  he  has  organized,  or  rather  be- 
gun, an  association  of  girls  to  set  types,  etc.,  who  live  in  com- 
munity and  labor  for  the  love  of  God  in  the  Apostolate  of  the 
Press.  He  publishes  several  newspapers  and  journals.  The 
house  in  which  the  members  live  is  also  the  store  and  the  pub- 
lishing house.  Each  girl  has  her  own  room.  They  are  under 
the  patronage  of  St.  Paul.  The  canon  is  filled  with  the  idea  of 
St.  Paul  as  the  great  patron  of  the  Press,  the  first  Christian 
journalist.  What  has  long  been  my  dream  of  a  movement  of 
this  nature  has  found  here  an  incipient  realization.  Our  views 
in  regard  to  the  mission  of  the  press,  and  the  necessity  of  run- 
ning it  for  the  spread  and  defence  of  the  faith  as  a  form  of 
Christian  sacrifice  in  our  day,  are  identical.  You  can  easily 
fancy  what  interest  and  consolation  our  meeting  and  conversation 
must  be  to  each  other.  His  movement  is  the  completion  of  The 
Catholic  Publication  Society  of  New  York." 

As  there  may  be  some  curiosity  about  Father    Hecker's   prin- 


360  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


ciples  as  a  public  writer,  in  point  of  view  of  ecclesiastical 
authority,  we  give  the  following  from  a  letter  written  just  before 
the  Vatican  Council: 

"I.  Absolute  and  unswerving  loyalty  to  the  authority  of 
the  Church,  wherever  and  however  expressed,  as  God's  authority 
upon  earth  and  for  all  time. 

"2.  To  seek  in  the  same  dispositions  the  true  spirit  of  the 
Church,  and  be  unreservedly  governed  by  it  as  the  wisdom  of 
the  Most   High. 

"  3.  To  keep  my  mind  and  heart  free  from  all  attachments 
to  schools,  parties,  or  persons  in  the  Church,  Hecker  included,  so 
that  nothing  within  me  may  hinder  the  light  and  direction  of 
the  Holy  Spirit. 

"4.  In  case  any  conflict  arises  concerning  what  Hecker  may 
have  spoken  or  written,  or  any  work  or  movement  in  which  he 
may  be  engaged,  to  re-examine.  If  wrong,  make  him  retract  at 
once.  If  not,  then  ask:  Is  the  question  of  that  importance  that 
it  requires  defence,  and  the  upsetting  of  attacks?  If  not  of  this 
importance,  then  not  to  delay  and  perhaps  jeopardize  the  pro- 
gress of  other  works,  and  condemn   Hecker  to  simple  silence. 

"  5.  In  the  midst  of  the  imperfections,  abuses,  scandals, 
etc.,  of  the  human  side  of  the  Church,  never  to  allow  myself  to 
think  or  to  express  a  word  which  might  seem  to  place  a  truth 
of  the  Catholic  faith  in  doubt,  or  to  savor  of  the  spirit  of  dis- 
obedience. 

"  6.  With  all  this  in  view,  to  be  the  most  earnest  and 
ardent  Iriend  of  all  true  progress,  and  to  work  with  all  my 
might  for  its  promotion  through  existing  organizations  and  au- 
thorities." 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

THE    VATICAN    COUNCIL. 

IN  1867  Father  Hecker  visited  Europe  in  company  with  Father 
Hewit  for  the  purpose  of  opening  business  relations  be- 
tween The  Catholic  Publication  Society  and  English,  Irish,  and 
Continental  publishers,  as  well  as  to  attend  the  Catholic  Congress 
of  Malines  held  in  the  summer  of  that  year.  The  latter  purpose 
was  the  chief  inducement  for  the  journey.  The  Archbishop  of 
New  York  favored  the  project  of  holding  a  Catholic  Congress 
in  America,  and  encouraged  Father  Hecker  to  study  the  pro- 
ceedings at  Malines  with  this  end  in  view.  Their  stay  at  Ma- 
lines was  full  of  instruction,  as  they  heard  there  the  renowned 
orators,  Dupanloup  and  Montalembert,  as  well  as  others  of  note. 
The  Catholic  Congress  of  American  laymen  held  in  Baltimore  a 
few  years  ago,  and  whose  good  effects  are  still  felt,  would  have 
been  assembled  twenty  years  earlier  if  Father  Hecker  could  have 
brought  it  about.  These  meetings  were  part  of  his  scheme  for 
that  moral  organization  of  Catholic  forces  which  he  knew  to  be 
so  necessary  for  the  fruitful  working  of  the  official  unity  of  the 
Church. 

In.  the  early  part  of  the  year  1869  Pius  IX.  wrote  Father 
Hecker  an  autograph  letter  commending  the  various  religious 
works  which  he  and  his  community  were  engaged  in,  especially 
the  Apostolate  of  the  Press,  and   giving  them  all  his  blessing. 

"  I  have  good  news  to  tell  you,"  he  wrote  to  a  friend.  "  The 
Holy  Father  has  written  me  the  'tallest'  kind  of  a  letter,  en- 
dorsing every  good  work  in  which  I  am  engaged.  Hurrah  for 
Catholicity  at  Fifty-ninth  Street !  My  private  opinion  is  that  the 
Holy  Father  has  gone  too  far  in  his  endorsement  of  Hecker. 
He  has  made  me  feel  ashamed  of  myself  and  humiliated." 

When  Pius  IX.  called  together  the  Council  of  the  Vatican 
Father  Hecker  was  urged  by  friends,  among  them  several  bish- 
ops, to  go  to  Rome  for  the  occasion.  The  late  Bishop  Rose- 
crans,  of  Columbus,  Ohio,  not  being  able  to  attend  himself,  ap- 
pointed Father  Hecker  his  Procurator,  or  proxy.  Before  his 
departure  he  preached  a  sermon  on  the  Council  in  the  Paulist 
Church,  which  was    printed    in   The    Catholic   World  for    Decem- 

361 


362  The  Life  of  Father  Heeker. 

ber,  1869.  He  devoted  the  greater  part  of  it  to  quieting  the  wild 
forebodings  of  timid  Catholics  and  combating  the  prognostics  of 
outright  anti-Catholics.  He  concluded  by  asking  the  people  to 
pray  that  the  hopes  of  a  new  and  brighter  era  for  religion,  to 
date  from  this  great  event,  might  be  fulfilled ;  for  it  was  com- 
monly believed  and  expressly  intended  that  the  entire  state  of 
the  Church  should  be  considered  and  legislated  upon  at  the 
Council.  The  breaking  out  of  the  Franco-Prussian  war,  as  is 
well  known,  together  with  the  seizure  of  Rome  by  the  Piedmon- 
tese,  frustrated  these  hopes  as  to  all  but  the  very  first  part  of 
the  work  laid  out  for  the  Council. 

Father  Heeker  arrived  in  Rome  on  the  26th  of  November, 
1869.  When  the  preliminary  business  of  organization  had  been 
finished  it  was  announced  that  the  procurators  of  absent  bishops 
would  not  be  admitted  to  the  Council,  as  the  number  of  prelates 
present  in    person  was    exceedingly  large.     But,    he  writes   home : 

"  The  Archbishop  of  Baltimore  has  made  me  his  theologian 
of  his  own  accord.  This  gives  me  the  privilege  of  reading  all 
the  documents  of  the  Council,  of  knowing  all  that  takes  place  in 
it,  its  discussions,  etc.  As  his  theologian  I  take  part  in  the  meet- 
ings and  deliberations  of  the  American  hierarchy,  which  is,  as  it 
were,  a  permanent  council  concerning  the  interests  of  the  Church 
in  the  United  States,  in  which  I  feel  a  strong  and  special  in- 
terest." 

Father  Heeker  had  ever  been  a  firm  believer  in  the  doctrine 
of  papal  infallibility,  as  was  the  case  with  all  American  Catholics, 
prelates,  priests,  and  people.  Shortly  before  leaving  for  the 
Council  we  heard  him  say  :  "  I  have  always  heard  the  voice  of 
Rome  as  that  of  truth  itself."  This  he  also  showed  very  plainly 
in  his  farewell  sermon.  Speaking  of  the  dread  of  undue  papal 
influence  over  the  bishops  in  the  Council,  he  exclaimed  :  "  All  I 
have  to  say  is,  that  if  the  Roman  Court  prevail  [in  the  delibera- 
tions of  the  Council],  it  is  the  Holy  Ghost  who  prevails  through 
the  Roman  Court."  But  the  tone  of  the  controversy  on  the  sub- 
ject of  papal  infallibility,  which  soon  deafened  the  world,  was  too 
sharp  for  his  nerves,  and  he  abstained  from  mingling  in  it.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  he  determined  to  get  away  from  Rome  early  in 
the  spring  of  1870.  If  the  reader  would  know  what  we  deem  to 
have  been  Father  Hecker's  frame  of  mind  about  the  proceedings 


The   Vatican  Council.  363 


of  the  Council  we  refer  him  to  Bishop  J.  L.  Spalding's  excellent 
life  of  his  uncle,  the  then  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  whose  views 
of  both  doctrine  and  policy  were,  as  far  as  we  can  judge,  shared 
by  Father  Hecker,  who  was  his  intimate  and  beloved  friend. 

But  his  stay  in  the  Eternal  City,  at  this  time  more  than  ever 
before  the  focus  of  all  religious  truth,  as  well  as  the  object  of 
all  human  expectancy,  had  not  been  uneventful.  Very  much 
against  his  will  he  preached  one  of  the  sermons  of  the  course  given 
during  the  octave  of  the  Epiphany,  in  the  Church  of  San  Andrea 
della  Valle,  and  later  on  another,  on  an  important  occasion,  in 
place  of  Archbishop  Spalding,  who  had  fallen  ill.  Much  of  his 
time  he  spent  with  the  American  bishops  and  the  distinguished 
priests  who  were  with  them  ;  he  renewed  the  old-time  friendships 
of  his  stay  in  Rome  twelve  years  before,  seeing  a  good  deal  of 
Archbishop  Connolly,  of  Halifax.  N.  S. ;  he  made  new  friends, 
too,  among  whom  he  names  especially  Mrs.  Craven,  the  author 
of  the  Rc'at  d'une  Socur ;  and  he  formed  acquaintance  with  lead- 
ing men  and  women  of  all  nationalities. 

"  There  is  not  a  day  passes,"  he  wrote  home,  "  that  I  do  not 
make  the  acquaintance  of  persons  of  great  importance,  or  ac- 
quire the  knowledge  of  matters  equally  important  for  me  to 
know;  and  I  gain  more  in  a  day  than  one  could  in  years  at 
other  times.  For  we  may  say  that  the  intelligence,  the  science 
and  sanctity  of  :he  Church  are  now  gathered  into  this  one  city. 
Yet  my  heart  is  in  my  work  at  home." 

He  had  two  private  audiences  with  Pius  IX.,  which,  though 
of  course  brief,  were  very  interesting  ;  the  Pope  remembered  him, 
and  expressed  his  interest  in  him  and  his  work  in  America.  The 
following  extracts  from  letters  to  his  brother  George,  written 
very  soon  after  reaching  Rome,  recall  an  old  friend  : 

"  I  do  not  know  whether  I  told  you  of  my  interview  with 
Cardinal  Barnabo.  He  received  me  literally  with  open  arms. 
After  an  hour's  conversation  on  several  matters  he  ended  by  say- 
ing :  '  The  affection  and  esteem  which  I  had  for  you  when  you 
were  here  before  has  been  increased  by  your  labors  since  then, 
and  my  door  is  always  open  for  you,  and  I  shall  always  be  glad 
to  see  you.'  He  entertains  a  high  idea  of  the  importance  of 
The  Catholic   World." 


364  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

"  I  had  a  most  pleasant  interview  a  few  evenings  since  with 
Cardinal  Barnabo,"  he  writes  in  April,  1870,  shortly  before  leav- 
ing. "  Among  other  things  he  said  :  '  You  ought  to  be  grateful 
to  God  for  three  reasons :  first,  He  drew  you  out  of  heresy ; 
second,  He  saved  you  from  shipwreck  in  Rome  ;  third,  He  has 
given  you  talents,  etc.,  to  do  great  things  for  His  Church  in 
your  country.'     He  takes  great  interest  in  the  Paulists." 

Not  alone  in  Rome  did  he  meet  with  friends,  but  what  fol- 
lows, written  home  in  December,  1869,  tells  that  his  name  and 
his  vocation  had  been  made  familiar  to  many  observant  persons 
in  Europe : 

"  It  surprises  me  to  find  my  name  familiar  everywhere  I  have 
been  on  my  travels.  But  magazines,  newspapers,  telegrams,  and 
what-not  have  turned  the  world  into  a  whispering  gallery.  But 
the  less  a  man  is  known  to  men  the  more  he  knows  of  God  ;  so 
it  seems  to  me,  as  a  rule.  Yet  great  activity  may  flow  as  a 
consequence  of  intimate  union  with  Him  whom  theologians  call 
Actus  Pnrissimiis.  From  the  fact  of  his  being  known,  I  enter- 
tain no  better  idea  of  Father  Hecker  than  I  ever  did  ;  and  could 
I  get  him  again  in  the  United  States,  he  will  be  more  devoted 
than  ever  to  his  work." 

Father  Hecker  gave  his  view  of  the  bearing  of  the  Vatican 
Council  on  the  future  of  religion  in  a  letter  which  will  be  found 
below.  It  concerns  what  we  have  already  spoken  of  at  some 
length  and  what  we  shall  again  refer  to,  namely,  the  relation 
between  the  inner  and  outer  action  of  the  Holy  Ghost  as  fac- 
tors in  the  soul's  sanctification.  We  heard  Father  Hecker  several 
times  affirm  that  he  received  special  illumination  from  God  on 
this  subject  while  in  Rome  during  the  Council,  and  that  some- 
thing like  the  very  words  in  which  properly  to  express  himself 
were  then  given  to  him.  It  was  written  in  the  summer  of  1872, 
but  we  quote  it  here  before  bidding  adieu  to  Rome  and  accom- 
panying him  in  his  short  pilgrimage  among  the  great  shrines  of 
Italy  : 

• 

"  These  two  months  past  I  have  been  driven  away  from 
home  to  one  place  and  another  by  poor  health.  .  .  .  The  de- 
finition of  the  Vatican  Council  completes  and  fixes  for  ever  the 
external  authority  of   the  Church    against  the   heresies  and  errors 


The   Vatican  {Council.  365 


of  the  last  three  centuries.  .  .  .  None  but  the  declared  ene- 
mies of  the  Church  and  misdirected  Catholics  can  fail  to  see 
in  this  the  directing  influence  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

"  The  Vatican  Council  has  placed  the  Church  in  battle  array, 
unmasked  the  concealed  batteries  of  her  enemies ;  the  conflict 
will  be  on  a  fair  and  open  field,  and  it  will  be  decisive.  The 
recent  hostility  of  the  governments  of  Europe,  and  especially  of 
Italy,  against  the  Church,  has  shown  the  wisdom  of  the  Vatican 
Council  in  preparing  the  Church  to  meet  the  crisis.  The  defini- 
tion leaves  no  longer  any  doubt  in  regard  to  the  authority  of 
the  Chief  of  the  Church. 

"  For  my  part  I  sincerely  thank  the  Jesuits  for  their  influence 
in  bringing  it  about,  even  though  that  were  as  great  as  some 
people  would  have  us  believe.  .  .  .  This  had  to  be  done 
before  the  Church  could  resume  her  normal  course  of  action. 
What  is  that  ?  Why,  the  divine  external  authority  of  the 
Church  completed,  fixed  beyond  all  controversy,  her  attention 
and  that  of  all  her  children  can  now  be  turned  more  directly  to 
the  divine  and  interior  authority  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  soul. 
The  whole  Church  giving  her  attention  to  the  interior  inspira- 
tions of  the  Holy  Spirit,  will  give  birth  to  her  renewal,  and 
enable  her  trr  reconquer  her  place  and  true  position  in  Europe 
and  the  whole  world.  For  we  must  never  forget  that  the  im- 
mediate means  of  Christian  perfection  is  the  interior  direction 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  while  the  test  of  our  being  directed  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  and  not  by  our  fancies  and  prejudices,  is  our  filial 
obedience  to  the  divine  external  authority  of  the  Church. 

"If  for  three  centuries  the  most  influential  schools  in  the 
Church  gave  a  preponderance  in  their  teaching  and  spiritual 
direction  to  those  virtues  which  are  in  direct  relation  to  the  ex- 
ternal authority  of  the  Church,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
heresies  of  that  period  all  aimed  at  the  destruction  of  this  au- 
thority. The  character  of  this  teaching,  therefore,  was  a  neces- 
sity. There  was  no  other  way  of  preserving  the  children  of  the 
Church  from  the  danger  of  this  infection.  If  the  effect  of  this 
teaching  made  Catholics  childlike,  less  manly  and  active  than 
others,  this  was  under  the  circumstances  inevitable. 

"  The  definition  of  the  Vatican  Council,  thanks  to  the  Jesuits, 
now  gives  us  freedom  to  turn  our  attention  in  another  direction, 
and  to  cultivating  other  virtues.  If  one  infidel  was  equal  to  two 
Catholics  in    courage  and    action  in    the    past,  in    the    future  one 


366  The  Life  of  Father  Hcckcr. 

Catholic,    moved    by    the    Holy    Spirit,  will    be    equal    to-  half-a- 
dozen  or  a  thousand  infidels  and  heretics. 

"The  stupid  Dollingerites  do  not  see  or  understand  that  what 
they  pretend  to  desire — the  renewal  of  the  Church — can  only  be 
accomplished  by  the  reign  of  the  Holy  Spirit  throughout  the 
Church,  and  that  this  can  only  be  brought  about  by  a  filial 
submission  to  her  divine  external  authority.  Instead  of  their 
insane  opposition  to  the  definition  of  the  Vatican  Council  and 
to  the  Jesuits,  whose  influence  they  have  exaggerated  beyond  all 
measure,  they  ought  to  embrace  both  with  enthusiasm,  as  open- 
ing the  door  to  the  renewal  of  the  Church  and  a  brighter  and 
more  glorious  future.  .  .  .  To  my  view  there  is  no  other 
way  or  hope   for  such  a  future." 

He  left  Rome  and  his  many  warm  friends  there  early  in  the 
spring  of  1870,  and,  as  he  thought,  for  the  last  time.  He  was 
full  of  courage,  he  was  conscious  of  not  only  perfect  agreement 
with  every  credential  of  orthodoxy,  but  of  interior  impulses  of 
a  marvellously  inspiring  kind.  In  a  very  familiar  letter  to  his 
brother's  family  he  says  that  just  before  his  departure,  while 
standing  in  one  of  the  great  piazzas,  looking  at  the  concourse 
of  representatives  of  all  nations  passing  back  and  forth,  gathered 
to  take  counsel  with  the  Vicar  of  Christ  for  the  well-being  of 
the  human  race,  he  was  so  exhilarated  that  he  could  hardly  refrain 
from  calling  out,  "  Three  cheers  for  Paradise,  and  one  for  the 
United  States  !  " 

"  I  return  with  new  hope  and  fcresher  energy,"  he  writes, 
■'  for  that  better  future  for  the  Church  and  humanity  which  is 
in  store  for  both  in  the  United  States.  This  is  the  conviction 
of  all  intelligent  and  hopeful  minds  in  Europe.  They  look  to 
the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  not  only  with  great  interest,  but 
to  catch  the  light  which  will  solve  the  problems  of  Europe. 
Our  course  is  surely  fraught  with  the  interests,  hopes,  and  hap- 
piness of  the  race.  I  never  felt  so  much  like  acquitting  myself 
as  a  Christian  and  a  man.  The  convictions  which  have  hitherto 
directed  my  course  have  been  deepened,  confirmed,  and  strength- 
ened by  recent  experience  here,  and  I  return  to  my  country  a 
better  Catholic  and  more  an  American  than  ever." 

That  he  might  say  Mass  daily  and  at  convenient  hours  while 
in  Rome,  crowded  as  it  was  at  the  time  with  bishops  and  priests, 


The    \'a  tic  an  Council.  367 

he  obtained  leave  to  do  so  in  his  own  rooms.  He  made  little 
pilgrimages  to  the  great  shrines  of  the  Holy  City,  especially 
those  of  the  Apostles  and  the  typical  martyrs,  not  forgetting,  of 
course,  his  favorite  modern  saints,  Philip  Neri  and  Ignatius 
Loyola.  The  following  are  extracts  from  letters  home  telling  of 
his  celebration  of  St.  Paul's  Conversion  and  of  the  martyrdom 
of  St.  Amies.  The  reader  will  remember  that  the  "association 
of  women  "  lure  mentioned  was  one  of  his  earliest  ideas,  and 
one  of  the  many  whose  realization  Providence  has  given  over, 
let  us  hope,  to  some  souls  especially  favored  by  Father  Hecker's 
gifts  : 

"  I  pray  much  for  each  member  of  the  community,  and  for 
light  to  guide  it  in  the  way  of  God.  Within  a  short  period 
much  light  has  been  given  to  me,  and  the  importance  of  our 
work  and  its  greatness  have  impressed  me  greatly,  more  than 
ever  before.  Yesterday  I  went  to  the  Basilica  of  St.  Paul,  being 
the  feast  of  his  conversion,  especially  to  invoke  his  aid.  I  felt 
that  my  visit  was  not  in  vain.  ...  I  forgot  no  one  of  our 
dear  community.  ...  On  the  21st  I  said  Mass  in  the  cata- 
combs of  St.  Agnes  ;  it  was  the  day  of  her  feast.  More  than 
twenty  persons  were  present,  friends  and  acquaintances.  I  gave 
eleven  communions,  and  made  a  little  discourse  at  the  close  of 
the    Holy  Sacrifice.     The  scene  was  most    solemn  and    affecting. 

"What  did  I  pray  for?  [during  my  Mass  in  St.  Agnes's  Cata- 
comb]. For  you  all,  especially  for  the  future.  What  future? 
How  shall  1  name  it  ?  The  association  of  women  in  our  coun- 
try to  aid  the  work  of  God  through  the  Holy  Church  for  its 
conversion.  My  convictions  become  fixed,  and  my  determination 
to  begin  the  enterprise  consecrated. 

"At  the  close  of  the  Mass  I  made  a  short  discourse.  Think 
of  it,  preaching  once  more  in  the  Catacombs,  surrounded  with 
the  tombs  where  the  martyrs  are  laid  and  where  the  voice  of 
the  martyrs  had  spoken  !  You  can  imagine  that  the  impression 
was  profound  and  solemn  on  us  all.  It  was  a  piece  of  fool- 
hardiness  on  my  part  to  open  my  lips  and  speak,  when  every- 
thing around  us  spoke  so  impressively  and  solemnly  to  our 
hearts.  I  will  attempt  to  interpret  this  speech  :  In  the  days  of 
Agnes,  Christians  were  called  upon  to  resist  and  conquer  physi- 
cal persecution.  In  our  day  we  are  called  upon  to  overcome 
intellectual    and    social    opposition.     They  conquered  !     We    shall 


368  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

conquer !  Agnes  tells  us  there  is  no  excuse  for  cowardice. 
Agnes  was  young,  Agnes  was  weak,  Agnes  was  a  girl,  and  she 
conquered  !  One  Agnes  can  conquer  the  opposition  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  Such  in  substance  was  my  discourse.  The 
whole  scene  caused  every  one  to  be  bathed  in  tears." 

After  leaving  Rome  he  went  straight  to  Assisi,  for  whose 
saint  he  had  ever  felt  a  very  powerful  attraction.  He  thus  de- 
scribes his  impressions  : 

"  The  people  that  I  have  seen  about  here  have  a  milder 
countenance  and  a  more  cheerful  look,  more  refined  and  human 
than  the  Italians  around  Rome.  They  are  to  the  other  Italians 
what  the  Swabians  are  to  the  other  Germans.  It  is  easy  for 
the  Minnesinger  of  the  human,  to  become  the  Minnesinger  of 
Divine  love. 

"  I  could  have  kissed  the  stones  of  the  streets  of  the  town 
when  I  remembered  that  St.  Francis  had  trodden  these  same 
streets,    and    the    love    and    heroism    which    beat    in    his    heart. 

.  .  I  said  Holy  Mass  at  the  tomb  of  St.  Francis,  and  in 
presence  of  his  body  this  morning — a  votive  Mass  of  the  Saint. 
It  seems  I  could  linger  weeks  and  weeks  around  this  holy  spot. 
What  St.  Francis  did  for  his  age  one  might  do  for 
one's  own.  He  touched  the  chords  of  feeling  and  of  aspiration 
in  the  hearts  of  the  men  and  women  of  his  time  and  organized 
them  for  action.  St.  Dominic  did  the  same  for  the  intellectual 
wants  of  the  time.  Why  not  do  this  for  our  age  ?  Who  shall 
so  touch  the  springs  of  men's  hearts  and  reach  their  minds  as 
to  lead  them  to  the  desire  of  united  action,  and  organize  them 
so  as  to  bring  forth  great  results  ?  There  is  no  doubt  that  the 
age  wants  this.  Who  is  there  that  is  inspired  from  a  higher 
sphere  of  life,  and  sees  into  the  future,  so  as  to  be  able  to  speak 
to  men  and  to  invite  them  to  do  the  work  of  God  in  our  day  ? 
Who  takes  all  humanity  into  his  heart,  and  with  the  past  and 
present  at  once  in  his  mind  can  inspire  men  to  live  and  act  for 
the  divine  future  ?  " 

He  also  visited  the  Holy  House  at  Loretto,  and,  passing 
through  Venice  and  Milan  to  see  the  great  churches  of  these 
cities,  "  the  despair  of  all  modern  church-builders,"  as  he  says, 
he  came  finally  to  Genoa. 


The   Vatican  Council.  369 


"  I  turned  my  steps,"  he  writes,  "  to  the  general  hospital  ; 
and  why?  Because  the  interest  of  my  heart  was  there,  and  has 
been  there  for  upward  of  twenty  years.  It  is  the  spot  where 
St.  Catherine  of  Genoa  labored  for  the  miserable,  loved  God, 
and  sanctified  her  soul.  Her  body  is  in  a  crystal  case,  uncor- 
rupted,  withered  in  appearance  but  not  unpleasant  to  the  sight. 
When  the  curtain  was  withdrawn  and  I  could  see  her  face  and 
her  feet,  which  were  uncovered,  I  could  not  help  exclaiming 
with  the  Psalmist,  '  God  is  wonderful  in  His  saints  ! '  I  cannot 
express  what  an  attraction  I  have  always  felt  for  St.  Catherine 
of  Genoa.  She  knew  how  to  reconcile  the  greatest  fidelity  to 
the  interior  attrait  and  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  with  perfect 
filial  obedience  to  the  external  and  divine  authority  of  the 
Holy  Church.  She  knew  how  to  reconcile  the  highest  degree 
of  divine  contemplation  with  the  greatest  extent  of  works  of 
external  charity.  She  was  a  heroic  lover  of  God,  for  she  re- 
sisted His  gifts,  lest  she  might  forget  the  Giver  in  them,  and 
be  hindered  the  entire  possession  of  Him,  and  the  complete 
union  of  her  soul  with  Him.  As  a  virgin  she  was  pure,  a 
model  as  a  wife,  and  as  a  widow  a  saint  !  Her  writings  on  the 
spiritual  life  are  masterpieces,  and  though  a  woman,  no  man 
has  surpassed,  if  any  has  equalled,  the  eloquence  of  her  pen." 

He  procured  an  excellent  copy  of  St.  Catherine's  portrait 
preserved  at  the  hospital,  and  brought  it  home  with  him.  He 
had  done  the  same  for  Sts.  Philip  and  Ignatius  before  leaving 
Rome.  St.  Catherine's  picture  represents  a  handsome  face,  ear- 
nest, simple,  and  joyful  ;  she  is  dressed  plainly  as  a  devout 
woman  living  in  the  world,  lovely  to  look  upon  and  inspiring 
love  of  God  and  man   in  the  beholder. 

Father  Hecker's  stay  in  Europe  during  the  winter  of  1869-70 
and  the  following  spring  awakened  in  his  soul  aspirations 
towards  a  wide  and  enduring  religious  movement  in  the  Old 
World,  similar  to  that  which  he  had  started  in  the  New.  At  the 
time  he  did  not  anticipate  any  personal  share  in  it  other  than 
encouragement  and  direction  from  America.  The  reader  will 
learn  in  the  sequel  that  these  aspirations  were  again  felt,  and 
that  with  renewed  force,  when  he  returned  to  Europe  in  ill 
health  three  years  later. 

What  follows  is  from  a  pocket  diary,  and  from  a  letter 
home  : 


T)jo  The  Life  of  FatJicr  Hecker. 


"  The  work  that  Divine  Providence  has  called  us  to  do  in 
our  own  country,  were  its  spirit  extended  throughout  Europe, 
would  be  the  focus  of  new  light  and  an  element  of  regenera- 
tion. Our  country  has  a  providential  position  in  our  century  in 
relation  to  Europe,  and  our  efforts  to  Catholicize  and  sanctify 
it  give  it  an  importance,  in  a  religious  aspect,  of  a  most  interest- 
ing and  significant  character." 

"  I  do  not  wish  to  cross  the  Atlantic  ever  again,  and  there- 
fore would  like  to  finish  with  Europe  and  Italy.  As  for  the 
notable  men  of  the  day,  I  have  seen  many  of  them — enough  of 
them.  My  present  experience  in  one  way  and  another  seems 
to  have  prepared  me  to  lay  a  foundation  for  action  which  will 
be  suitable  not  only  for  the  present  but  for  centuries  to  come. 
No  one  of  my  previous  convictions  have  been  disturbed,  but 
much  strengthened  and  enlarged  and  settled.  I  see  nothing, 
practically,  in  which  I  am  engaged,  that,  were  it  in  my  power, 
I  would  now  wish  to  alter  or  abandon.  I  shall  return  with  the 
resolution  to  continue  them  with  more  confidence,  more  zeal, 
more  energy." 

He  arrived  in  New  York   in  June,   1870. 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

THE    LONG   ILLNESS. 

WE  have  now  arrived  at  the  last  period  of  Father  Hecker's  life, 
the  long  illness  which  completed  his  meed  of  suffering  and 
of  merit,  and  gradually  drew  him  down  to  the  grave.  It  will  not 
be  expected  that  we  shall  treat  extensively  of  this  subject ;  nor 
can  one  who  writes  in  the  beginning  of  the  '90s  about  the  clos- 
ing scenes  of  a  life  which  ended  late  in  the  '80s  go  very  much 
into  detail  without  bringing  in  the  living.  As  to  Father  Heck- 
er's latter  days  in  this  world,  it  may  be  said  that  his  joy  and 
courage  and  buoyancy  of  spirits,  as  well  as  his  hopeful  outlook 
upo 


n  men  and    thing's,  were  all    tried    in    the  furnace    of    extreme 


■&^> 


bodily  suffering  as  well  as  of  the  most  excruciating  mental 
agony. 

Four  distinct  epochs  divide  Father  Hecker's  life :  one  when 
in  early  days  he  was  driven  from  home  and  business  and  ulti- 
mately into  the  Church  by  aspirations  towards  a  higher  life ; 
another  marks  the  extraordinary  dealings  of  God  with  his  soul 
during  his  novitiate  and  time  of  studies  ;  the  third  was  the  strug- 
gle in  Rome  which  produced  the  Paulist  community ;  the  fourth 
and  last  was  the  illness  which  we  are  now  to  consider.  The 
closing  scenes  of  his  life  are  scattered  over  more  than  sixteen 
years,  filled  with  almost  every  form  of  pain  of  body  and  dark- 
ness of  soul. 

From  severe  colds,  acute  headaches,  and  weakness  of  the 
digestive  organs  Father  Hecker  was  a  frequent  sufferer.  But 
towards  the  end  of  the  year  1 87 1  his  headaches  became  much 
more  painful,  his  appetite  left  him,  and  sleeplessness  and  excita- 
bility of  the  nervous  system  were  added  to  his  other  ailments. 
Remedies  of  every  kind  were  tried,  but  without  permanent  re- 
lief, and,  although  he  lectured  and  preached  and  did  his  other 
work  all  winter  and  most  of  the  following  spring,  his  weakness 
increased,  until  by  the  summer  of  1872  he  was  wholly  incapaci- 
tated. The  winter  of  1872-3  was  spent  in  the  South  without 
notable  improvement,  and  early  in  the  following  summer,  acting 
upon  the  advice  of  physicians,  he  went  to  Europe.  "  Look  upon 
me  as  a  dead  man,"  he  said  with  tears  as  he  bade  the  commu- 
nity farewell  ;  "  God  is  trying  me  severely  in  soul  and  body,  and 
I  must    have  the  courage  to  suffer  crucifixion."     He  also  assured 

371 


372  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

us  that  whatever  action  should  be  taken  in  adopting  the  Consti- 
tutions, then  under  consideration,  had  his  hearty  approval  before- 
hand. He  was  accompanied  to  Europe  by  Father  Deshon,  from 
whom  he  parted  with  deep  emotion  at  Ragatz,  a  health  resort 
in  Switzerland. 

Father  Hecker  remained  more  than  two  years  in  Europe,  try- 
ing every  change  of  climate  and  scene,  and  every  other  remedy 
advised  by  physicians,  and  returned  to  New  York  in  October, 
1875,  with  unimproved  health.  He  had  derived  most  benefit  from 
a  journey  up  the  Nile  in  the  winter  of  1873-4,  and  a  short  visit 
to  the  Holy  Land  in  the  following  spring.  While  in  Europe  his 
mind  was  busy,  and  he  managed  to  meet  many  of  his  old  friends 
there,  and  formed  new  and  important  acquaintances.  In  Feb- 
ruary, 1875,  he  published  his  pamphlet,  An  Exposition  of  the 
Church  in  View  of  the  Present  Needs  of  the  Age,  which  contains 
his  estimate  of  the  evils  of  our  times,  especially  in  Europe,  and  the 
adequate  remedy  for  them.  On  his  return  to  New  York  he  was 
too  weak  to  bear  the  routine  of  the  house  in  Fifty-ninth  Street 
and  lived  with  his  brother  George  till  the  fall  of  1879,  when  he 
removed  to  the  convent,  remaining  with  the  community  till  his 
death  nine  years  afterwards. 

As  to  the  physical  sufferings  of  those  last  sixteen  years,  they 
were  never  such  as  to  impair  Father  Hecker's  mental  soundness. 
He  never  had  softening  of  the  brain,  as  the  state  of  his  nerves 
before  going  to  Europe  seemed  to  indicate ;  nor  had  he  heart 
disease,  as  was  for  a  time  suspected.  His  mental  powers  were 
intact  from  first  to  last,  though  his  organs  of  speech  were  some- 
times too  slow  for  his  thoughts.  His  digestion  had  been  im- 
paired by  excessive  abstinence  in  early  manhood,  dating  back  to 
a  time  before  he  was  a  Catholic,  and  his  nervous  system,  also, 
had  been  injured  by  that  means,  as  well  as  by  the  pressure  of 
excessive  work  in  later  life.  Gradual  impoverishment  of  the 
blood  was  the  result,  and  the  dropping  down  of  nervous  force, 
till  at  last  the  body  struck  work  altogether.  Four  or  five  years 
before  his  death  Father  Hecker  became  subject  to  frequent  at- 
tacks of  angina  pectoris,  said  to  be  the  most  painful  of  all  dis- 
eases. During  the  sixteen  years  of  illness  every  symptom  of 
bodily  illness  was  aggravated  by  the  least  attention  to  commu- 
nity affairs  or  business  matters,  and  also  by  interior  trials  which 
will  presently  be  described. 

He  was  not  unwilling   to    trace   his   breaking   down   to  exces- 


The  Long  Illness.  3/3 


sive  austerity  in  former  years.  Once  when  asked  for  advice 
about  corporal  mortification  he  answered  :  "  Don't  go  too  fast. 
Remember  St.  Bernard's  regret  for  having  gone  too  far  with 
such  things  in  his  youth.  For  my  part,  for  many  years  I  prac 
tised  frightful  penances,  and  now  I  fear  that  much  of  my  physi- 
cal helplessness  is  due  to  that  cause."  His  state  was  not  one 
of  utter  debility,  though  that  quickly  resulted  if  watchfulness 
were  relaxed,  or  from  application  to  responsible  duties.  But  his 
strength  never  was  "  much  to  speak  of,"  "  only  so,  so,"  to  use  his 
own  expressions,  which  signified  a  very  small  amount  of  the 
power  of  exertion  or  endurance  in  the  muscles  and  nerves. 

"What  about  my  health?"  he  wrote  from  Europe.  "There 
are  days  when  I  feel  quite  myself,  and  then  others  when  I  sink 
down  to  the  bottom.  My  condition  of  mind  and  body  often 
perplexes  me,  and  there  is  nothing  left  me  but  to  abandon  all 
into  the  hands  of  Divine  Providence.  The  end  of  it  all  is  en- 
tirely in  the  dark,  and  were  there  not  parallel  epochs  in  my  past 
life,  and  similar  things  in  the  lives  of  some  others  which  I  have 
read,  my  perplexity  would  be    greater." 

And  again,   from   Ragatz,  in  the  summer  of   1875  : 

"My  state  of  health  is  much  the  same.  I  found  last  week 
that  my  pulse  was  bounding  in  a  few  hours  from  the  sixties 
into  the  nineties  without  any  apparent  cause.  Yesterday  I  de- 
termined to  consult  the  leading  physician  here.  He  examined 
me,  and,  like  all  others,  attributes  everything  to  my  nerves,  result- 
ing from  impoverished  blood.  I  say  to  myself:  1st,  How  long 
will  the  machine  keep  working  in  this  style?  2d,  There  will  be 
a  smash-up  some  day.  3d,  Or  perhaps  I  shall  be  able  to  get 
up  more  steam  and  run  it  a  while  longer.     Who  knows?" 

And  in  another  letter  from  the  same  place: 

"Even  here,  freed  from  all  [labors];  it  often  seems  to  me 
that  a  good  breeze,  if  it  struck  me  in  the  right  place,  would 
drive  the  soul  out  of  my  body,  so  lightly  is  it  connected  with 
it,  so  slightly  do  they  hold  together." 

As  already  said,  his  trip  to  Egypt  had  given  him  a  temporary 
relief,  and  this  was  due,  so  he  supposed,  to  utter  change  of 
scene  and  to  solitude.     When  it  was  over  he  wrote  as  follows: 


374  TJic  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

"This  trip  has  been  in  every  respect  much  more  to  my  bene- 
fit than  my  most  sanguine  expectations  led  me  to  hope.  It 
seems  to  me  almost  like  an  inspiration,  such  have  been  its  bene- 
ficial effects  to  my  mind  and  body.  In  Nubia  there  reigned  pro- 
found silence  and  repose,  and  in  lower  Egypt,  although  there  is 
more  activity  and  evidence  of  modern  life,  still  it  is  quiet  and 
tranquil.  I  feel  somewhat  like  one  who  has  been  in  solitude  for 
three  or  four  months." 

"My  daily  regime,"  he  writes  to  his  brother  and  Mrs. 
Hecker,  from  Italy,  "has  not  changed  these  two  years  which  I 
have  spent  in  Europe.  If  I  rise  before  nine  I  feel  it  the  whole 
day.  In  the  morning  I  awake  about  seven  for  good,  and  take  a 
cup  of  tea  with  some  bread  and  butter.  I  then  read;  sometimes, 
not  often,  I  write  a  note  in  bed,  and  rise  about  nine  or  ten.  I 
take  a  lunch  at  twelve  and  dine  at  six.  My  appetite  is  not 
much  at  any  time.  My  sleep,  so  so.  [All  through  his  illness  he 
went  to  bed  at  nine  or  shortly  after.]  I  feel  for  the  most  part 
like  a  man  balancing  whether  he  will  keep  on  swimming  or  go 
under  the  water.  Sometimes  I  take  a  nap  two  or  three  times  a 
day — if  I  can  get  it.  There  are  weeks  when  I  do  not  and  cannot 
put  my  pen  to  paper.  To  write  a  note  is  a  great  effort. 
Though  my  strength  is  so  little  my  mind  is  not  unoccupied,  and 
I  keep  up  some  reading." 

Just  in  what  way  his  spiritual  difficulties  accelerated  his 
bodily  decline  it  is  hard  to  say,  for  he  was  generally  extremely 
reticent  as  to  his  interior  life.  A  few  words  dropped  unawares 
and  at  long  intervals,  and  carefully  taken  down  at  the  time,  give 
fleeting  glimpses  into  a  soul  which  was  a  dark  chamber  of  sor- 
row, though  it  was  sometimes  peaceful  sorrow.  To  this  we  can 
fortunately  add  some  sentences  written  in  an  unusually  confiden- 
tial mood  in  letters  from  Europe.  Before  his  illness  he  was 
over-joyful,  or  so  it  seemed  to  some  to  whom  this  trait  of  his 
was  a  temptation.  "Why,"  it  was  said,  "religion  seems  to  have 
no  penitential  side  to  Father  Hecker  at  all."  From  the  day  of 
his  ordination  until  his  illness  began  he  might  have  made  the 
Psalmist's  words  his  own:  "There  be  many  that  say,  Who  shall 
show  us  any  good?  Lord,  Thou  hast  set  upon  us  the  light  of 
Thy  countenance,  Thou  hast  put  gladness  in  my  heart."  But 
now  the  light  of    that  radiant    joy  had  faded  away,  and  the  face 


The  Long  Illness.  375 


of  God,  though  as  present  as  ever  before,  loomed  over  him  dark, 
threatening,  and  majestic.  He  had  studied  spiritual  doctrine  too 
well  not  to  be  ready  for  this  trial,  nor  had  it  been  sent  to  him 
without  warning.  Nevertheless  the  sensible  presence  of  God's 
love  had  been  so  vivid  and  constant  that  he  could  alternate  the 
joy  of  labor  with  that  of  prayer  with  the  greatest  ease.  And 
now  it  was  an  alternation,  not  of  choice  but  of  dire  compulsion, 
between  bitter,  helpless  inaction,  and  a  state  of  prayer  which  was 
a  mere  dread  of  an  all-too-near  Judge.  It  seemed  to  him  as  if 
he  had  boasted,  "I  said  in  my  abundance  I  shall  not  be 
moved  for  ever,"  and  now  he  must  end  the  inspired  sentence, 
"Thou  hast  turned  rvay  Thy  face  from  me  and  I  became, 
troubled."  When  this  obscuration  of  the  Divine  Love  first 
grew  upon  him  the  misery  of  it  was  intolerable  and  was  borne 
with  extreme  difficulty.  The  pain  was  lessened  at  intervals  as 
time  passed  on,  and  before  a  year  had  elapsed,  his  letters 
from  Europe,  though  they  did  not  before  complain  of  desola- 
tion, now  show  its  previous  existence  by  hailing  the  advent  of 
seasons  of  interior  peace.  But  from  beginning  to  end  of  this 
entire  period  of  his  life  wre  have  not  found  a  word  of  his 
speaking  of  joy.  And  again,  even  the  peace  would  go  and  the 
desolation  return ;  the  face  of  God,  not  any  time  smiling,  had 
lost  its  calm  regard  and  was  once  more  bent  frowning  upon 
him.  The  following  extracts  from  letters  written  from  Switzer- 
land in  the  autumn  of  1874,  and  within  a  month  of  each  other, 
tell  of  these  alternations  of  storm  and  calm  : 

"As  to  my  health  these  last  ten  days  I  cannot  say  much. 
My  interior  trials  have  been  such  that  it  would  be  impossible 
that  my  health  should  improve  under  them.  As  long  as  they 
last  I  must  expect  to  suffer.  I  see  nothing  before  me  but  dark- 
ness, and  there  is  nothing  within  my  soul  but  desolation  and 
bitterness.  Cut  off  from  all  that  formerly  interested  me,  ban- 
ished as  it  were  from  home  and  country,  isolated  from  every- 
thing, the  doors  of  heaven  shut,  I  feel  overwhelmed  with  misery 
and  crushed  to  atoms.  My  being  away  from,  my  former  duties 
is  a  negative  relief ;  it  frees  me  from  the  additional  burden  and 
trouble  which  would  necessarily  fall  upon  me  if  I  were  within 
reach." 

"There  remains  nothing  for  me  but  to  confide  in,  to  follow, 
and    abandon  myself    to  that    Guide    who    has    directed  me    from 


376  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 

the  beginning.  I  read  Job,  Jeremias,  and  Thomas  a  Kempis, 
and  meditate  on  the  sufferings  of  Our  Lord  and  the  character 
of  His  death.  I  recall  to  mind  what  I  have  read  on  these  mat- 
ters in  spiritual  writers  and  the  Lives  of  the  Saints.  I  reflect 
how  from  the  very  nature  of  the  purification  of  the  soul  this 
darkness,  bitterness,  and  desolation  must  be;  but  not  a  drop  of 
consolation  is  distilled  into  my  soul.  The  only  words  which 
come  to  my  lips  are  "  My  soul  is  sad  unto  death,"  and  these  I 
repeat  and  repeat  again.  At  all  times,  in  rising  and  in  going  to 
bed,  in  company  and  at  my  meals,  I  whisper  them  to  myself, 
while  to  others  I  appear  cheerful  and  join  in  the  talk.  At  the 
most  I  can  but  die  ;  this  is  the  lot  of  all,  and  no  one  can  tell 
the  moment  when. 

"Withal,  I  try  to  have  patience,  resignation,  endurance,  and 
trust  in  God,  waiting  on  His  guidance  and  leaving  all  in  His 
hands." 

"  Since  my  last  I  have  had  some  relief  from  my  interior 
trials,  and  no  sooner  does  this  take  place  than  my  body  recov- 
ers some  of  its  strength.  It  would  not  have  been  possible  for 
me  to  have  borne  much  longer  the  desolation  which  filled  my 
soul.  Each  new  trial,  when  passed,  leaves  me  more  quiet  and 
tranquil.  Past  periods  of  my  life  give  me  hope  that  this  trial 
will  also  come  to  an  end.  What  will  that  be  ?  How  will  it  hap- 
pen ?  and  when  ?  God  alone  knows.  He  that  has  led  me  so 
many  years  still  guides  me,  and  resistance  to  His  will  is  worse 
than  vain.  Judging  from  that  same  past,  my  expectations  to  re- 
turn to  my  former  labors  are  not  sanguine.  It  seems  to  me 
sometimes  that  I  am  cut  off  from  these  to  be  prepared  for  a 
deeper  and  broader  basis  for  future  action.  But  whether  this 
will  be  so  or  not,  is  in  the  hands  of  God.  Whatever  He  wills 
me  to  do,  I  must  do  it.  My  own  will  has  become  null,  and  all 
that  is  left  for  me  to  do  is  to  wait  on  His  good  pleasure  and 
His  own  time.  To  act  or  not  to  act,  to  suffer  or  not  to  suffer, 
to  speak  or  to  keep  silence,  to  return  to  my  former  labors  or 
never  to  return,  to  live  on  or  die,  all  have  become  indifferent  to 
me.  I  am  in  God's  hands,  with  no  will  of  my  own  ;  for  He  has 
taken  it,  and  it  is  for  Him  to  do  with  me  whatever  He  pleases. 
If  this  be  a  source  of  pain  to  others,  none  but  God  knows 
what  it  has  cost  me.  There  is  nothing,  therefore,  left  but 
to  wait  in  trust  on  God's  will  and  His  mercy  and  good 
pleasure." 


The  Long  Illness.  3/7 


And  again  the  darkened  heavens  are  above  him  : 

"  Death  invited,  alas  !  will  not  come.  What  a  relief  it  would 
be  from  a  continuous  and   prolonged  death  !  " 

The  obscurity  of  the  drawing  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  well  as 
of  God's  designs,  and  his  incessant  fretting  against  this,  partly 
involuntary  and,  as  he  confesses,  partly  voluntary  also,  "disturbs 
my  health  and  reduces  my  strength." 

Next  to  the  evil  self-company  of  an  un forgiven  sinner  there  is 
no  loneliness  so  sad  as  that  of  the  invalid.  He  needs  company 
most  who  is  worst  company  for  himself.  Yet  Father  Hecker 
has  not  left  a  single  word  which  would  suggest  that  during 
more  than  two  years  of  absence  from  all  his  life  associates  in  re- 
ligion, as  well  as  from  his  blood  kindred,  whom  he  loved  with  a 
powerful  love,  he  felt  the  lack  of  human  companionship.  One 
reason  for  this  was  his  contemplative  nature,  and  this  was  the 
main  reason.  He  was  born  to  be  a  hermit,  and  was  an  active 
liver  only  by  being  born  again  for  a  special  vocation.  Another 
reason  was  that  his  mind  was  so  constituted  that,  when  subjected 
to  trial,  it  rested  better  when  quite  out  of  sight  of  everybody 
and  everything  associated  with  past  responsibilities.  He  bade 
adieu  to  Father  Deshon  when  the  latter  left  him  at  Ragatz  with 
sorrow,  but  without  reluctance ;  and  when  a  year  afterwards  it 
was  suggested  that  one  of  the  community  should  come  to  Eu- 
rope and  keep  him  company,  he  refused  without  hesitation,  say- 
ing that  his  companion  would  be  burdened  with  a  sick  man's 
infirmities,  or  the  sick  man  distressed  by  his  companion's  inactiv- 
ity on  his  account.  But  towards  the  very  end  of  his  life  there 
were  times  when  he  felt  the  need  of  congenial  company  and 
was  extremely  grateful  for  it.  But  this  did  not  happen  often, 
and  when  it  did  it  was  because  the  waves  of  despondency  which 
submerged  him  were  heavier  and  darker  than   usual. 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  shows  this  state  of  mind  : 

"  As  I  get  somewhat  more  accustomed  to  my  separation  from 
all  that  was  so  dear  to  me,  the  strangeness  of  my  position  seems 
to  me  more  and  more  inexplicable.  All  the  things  which  are 
going  on  in  Fifty-ninth  Street  were  once  all  to  me,  and  nothing 
appeared  beyond.  To  be  separated  from  all ;  to  look  upon  one's 
past  as  a  dream  ;  to  become  a  stranger  to  one's  self,  wandering 
from    city  to    city,  from    country  to    country,    ever   in    a   strange 


378  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


land  and  among  strangers ;  to  be  attached  to  nothing ;  to  see  no 
definite  future;  to  be  an  enigma  to  one's  self;  to  find  no  light  in 
any  one  to  guide  me,  isolated  from  all  except  God — who  will 
explain  what  all  this  means  ?  where  it  will  end  ?  and  how  soon  ? 
As  I  become  resigned  to  this  state  of  things  my  health  suffers 
less.  Occasionally  my  interior  trials  and  struggles  are  almost 
insupportable,  but  less  so  than  if  I  were  surrounded  by  those 
who  have  an  affection  for  me.  To  worry  others  without  their 
being  able  to  give  me  any  relief  would  only  increase  my  suffer- 
ing, and  finally  become  unbearable.  All  is  for  the  best !  God's 
will  be  done  !  " 

What  he  wrote  to  a  friend  suffering  from  illness  he  applied 
to  himself ;  he  made  spiritual  profit,  as  best  he  might,  from 
separation  from  the  men  and  the  vocation  he  loved  so  well : 

"  I  can  sympathize  with  you  more  completely  in  your  sick- 
ness being  myself  not  well.  To  be  shut  off  from  the  world, 
and  cut  off  from  human  activity — and  this  is  what  it  means  to 
be  sick — gives  the  soul  the  best  conditions  to  love  God  alone, 
and  this  is  Paradise  upon  earth.  Blessed  sickness!  which  de- 
taches the  soul  from  all  creatures  and  unites  it  to  its  sovereign 
Good.  But  one's  duties  and  responsibilities,  what  of  these  in  the 
meantime  ?  We  must  give  them  all  up  one  day,  and  why  not 
now  ?  We  think  ourselves  necessary,  and  others  try  to  make 
us  believe  the  same  ;  there  is  but  little  truth  and  much  self-love 
in  this.  '  What  else  do  I  require  of  thee,'  says  our  Lord  in 
Thomas  a  Kempis,  '  than  that  thou  shouldst  resign  thyself  in- 
tegrally to  Me.'  This  is  what  our  Lord  is  fighting  for  in  our 
souls." 

Yet  in  having  his  life-work  torn  away  from  him  he  was  like 
a  man  whose  leg  has  been  crushed  and  then  amputated,  the 
phantom  of  the  lost  limb  aching  in  every  muscle,  bone,  and 
nerve.  This  was  partly  the  secret  of  his  pain  while  in  Europe, 
at  the  mere  thought  of  his  former  active  life  ;  it  haunted  him 
with  memories  of  its  lost  opportunities,  its  shortcomings  in 
motive  or  achievement,  or  what  he  fancied  to  be  such,  in  view 
of  the  Divine  justice,  now  always  reckoning  with   him. 

He  was  ever  cheerful  in  word,  even  when  the  pallor  of  his 
face  and  the  blazing  of  his  eyes  betrayed  his  bodily  and  spirit- 
ual   pain.     "  The  end    of   religion  is  joy,  joy  here    no    less    than 


The  Long  Illness.  379 

joy  hereafter,"  he  once  insisted,  and  he  argued  long  and  ener- 
getically for  the  proposition  ;  but  meantime  he  was  racked  with 
inner  agony  and  was  too  feeble  to  walk  alone.  In  his  letters 
and  diaries  he  speaks  of  his  illness  and  of  its  symptoms  as  of 
those  of  another  person  of  whom  he  was  giving  news. 

His  wanderings  in  Europe  were  like  gropings  after  the 
Divine  will  in  the  midst  of  the  spirit's  night,  often  in  anguish, 
often  in  tranquillity,  never  in  his  former  bounding  joy,  always 
with  submission,  beforehand,  at  the  moment,  and  afterwards. 
Although  the  Divine  Will  gave  a  cold  welcome,  he  sought  no 
other  refuge. 

"  There  are  a  thousand  things,"  he  writes,  "  that  would  worry 
me  if  I  would  only  let  them,  but  with  God's  help  I  keep  them 
off  at  arm's  length.  His  grace  suffices,  or  in  His  presence  all 
the  things  of  this  world  disappear.  God  alone  has  been  always 
the  whole  desire  of  my  heart,  and  what  else  can  I  wish  than 
that  His  will  may  be  wholly  fulfilled  in  me.  Having  rooted 
everything  else  out  of  my  heart,  and  cut  me  off  from  all 
things,  what  other  desire  can  I  have  than  that  He  who  has 
begun  the  work  should  finish  it  according  to  His  design.  It 
is  not  important  that  I  should  know  what  that  design  is;  it  is 
enough  that  I  am  in  His  hands,  to  do  with  me  whatever  He 
pleases.     To   be   and   to  live   in    His   presence   is   all." 

And   again  : 

"  The  mind  quiet  both  as  to  the  past  and  the  future,  con- 
tented with  the  present  moment :  as  to  the  past,  leaving  it 
out  of  sight  ;  as  to  the  future,  unsolicitous.  As  to  the  present, 
satisfied  to  be  outwardly  homeless,  cut  off  from  all  past  friend- 
ships and  relations.  The  present  gives  me  all  the  conditions 
required  for  preparation  for  the  future.  Any  time  these  two 
years  past  I  would  have  made  an  entire  renunciation  of  all  re- 
lations to  my  past  labors  and  position,  but  waited  as  a  dictate 
of  prudence.  Now  I  feel  ready  to  make  it  with  calmness  and 
in   view   of  all   its   consequences." 

"No  sooner  do  I  set  my  mind  to  pray  than  God  fills  it  with 
Himself,"  Father  Hecker  was  once  heard  to  say.  And  this 
power  of  prayer  by  no  means  left  him  after  1872;  only  that  the 
God  uvho    filled    him    was  no  longer    revealed    as    the    Supreme 


380  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 

Love,  but  as  the  Supreme  Majesty.     "There  was  once  a  priest," 
he   said,    speaking    of    himself,  "who    had    been    very    active    for 
God,  until    at    last    God    gave  him    a    knowledge    of    the    Divine 
Majesty.     After  seeing   the  Majesty  of    God  that  priest  felt  very 
strange  and  was  much  humbled,  and    knew  how  little  a  thing  he 
was  in  comparison    with    God."     Comparison  with  God  !     It    was 
this  that  gave  him,  as  it  did    Job,  a  terror  of   the    Divine  justice 
beyond  words  to  express,  and  impressed  that  air  of   spiritual  de- 
jection   upon    him    which  struck  his  old  friends  as  so  strongly  in 
contrast    with    his  former   happy   and    vivacious   manners.     "You 
will  never    know,"    he    once    said,  while    being    helped    into    bed 
after  a  very  sad    day,  "how    much    I  have    suffered  till    you    are 
in    heaven."     Meantime    this    awful    Deity,    so    prompt    to    enter 
Father    Hecker's    mind,  coming    at    times    like  a    withering  blast 
from  the   desert,    was    still  the    only   attraction    of   his   soul,   the 
only   object  of   his  love.     He   could    no    more   keep   his   mind  off 
God    now    than    he  could    before,   and    now    God    killed    him,  and 
then  He    made    him    alive.      The    ideas    of    the    Divine    goodness, 
patience,    mercy,    and    love   which    formerly   welled    up    in    abun- 
dant floods    at    the    thought    of    God,    at    the    same    thought    now 
were  dried  up  and   disappeared.     "Oh!"    he   once  exclaimed,   "if 
I    could    only  be   sure   that  I    shall    not    be    damned  ! "     This  was 
said     unawares    while     listening     to     the     life    of    a    saint.       The 
reader    will,    therefore,    understand    that     Father     Hecker's   inner 
trouble    was    not    a     state    of    mere    aridity,    a    difficulty    of    con- 
centration    of      mind      on      spiritual     things,    or     a     vagrancy    of 
thought ;    it   was    a  perpetual    facing  of    his  Divine   Accuser    and 
Judge,  a    trembling  woe    at  the  sight  of  Infinite    Majesty  on    the 
part    of    one    for   whom    the  Divine   love  was    the    one    necessary 
of   life    for   soul    and    body.     Yet    he    knew    that    this   was   really 
a   higher    form    of    prayer  than    any    he    had  yet     enjoyed,    that 
it    steadily   purified    his    understanding   by    compelling    ceaselessly 
repeated    acts    of    faith    in    God's    love,   purified   his   will    by    con- 
stant  resignation   of  every  joy  except   God    alone — God    received 
by  any   mode    in    which    it    might   please    the   Divine   Majesty   to 
reveal   Himself.     He  was,  therefore,  willing,   nay,  in   a  true  sense, 
glad    thus   to    walk    by  mere  faith  and  live  by    painful    love.     "I 
should    deem    it   a    misfortune    if    God     should     cure    me    of    my 
infirmities    and    restore   me   to    active  usefulness,    so  much   have 
I    learned  to    appreciate    the    value    of    my   passive    condition    of 
soul."     This     he    said     less    than     three    years    before    his   death. 


The  Long  Illness.  381 


And  about  the  same  time,  to  a  very  intimate  friend:  "God 
revealed  to  me  in  my  novitiate  that  at  some  future  time  I 
should  suffer  the  crucifixion.  I  have  always  longed  for  it ; 
but  oh,  now  that  it  has  come  it  is  hard,  oh,  it  is  terrible!" 
And    this    he    said    weeping. 

One  aspect  of  the  Divine  Majesty  which  threatened  for  years 
to  overpower  him  was  the  Last  Judgment.  "  God  has  given  me 
to  see  the  terrors  of  the  day  of  judgment,"  he  once  said,  "  and 
it  has  tried  me  with  dreadful  severity ;  but  it  is  a  wonderfully 
great  privilege."  Humility  grew  upon  him  day  by  day.  No 
one  who  knew  him  well  in  his  day  of  greatest  power  could 
think  him  a  proud  man,  but  his  confidence  in  his  vocation, 
and  in  himself  as  God's  representative,  had  been  immense. 
The    following,    from   a   memorandum,    shows   how   he    ended : 

"  I  told  him  how  courageous  I  felt.  Answer :  That  is  the 
way  I  used  to  feel.  I  used  to  say,  O  Lord !  I  feel  as  if 
I  had  the  whole  world  on  my  shoulders ;  and  all  I've  got  to 
say  is,  O  Lord !  I  am  sorry  you've  given  me  such  small 
potatoes  to  carry  on  my  back.  But  now — well,  when  a  mos- 
quito comes  in  I  say,  Mosquito,  have  you  any  good  to  do 
me  ?  Yes  ?  Then  I  thank  you,  for  I  am  glad  to  get  good 
from    a    mosquito." 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  whatever  diseases  may  have  enfee- 
bled Father  Hecker's  body,  his  spirit  suffered  from  a  malady 
known  only  to  great  souls — thirst  for  God.  This  gave  him  rest 
neither  day  nor  night,  or  allowed  him  intervals  of  peace  only 
to  return  with  renewed  force.  Some  men  love  gold  too  much 
for  their  peace  of  mind,  some  love  women  too  much,  and  some 
power;  men  like  Father  Hecker  love  the  Infinite  Good  too  much 
to  be  happy  in  soul  or  sound  in  body  unless  He  be  revealed  to 
them  as  a  loving  father.  And  this  knowledge  of  God  once  pos- 
sessed and  lost  again,  although  it  breeds  a  purer,  a  more  per- 
fectly disinterested  love,  leaves  both  soul  and  body  in  a  state  of 
acute  distress.  "  My  soul  thirsteth  for  Thee,  my  flesh  longeth 
for  Thee,  in  a  dry  and  desert  land  without  water." 

Tried  by  these  visitations,  he  was  free  to  acknowledge  that 
in  past  times  he  had  been  favored  above  others : 

"  Oh  !  there  was  a  time,"  he  said,  "  when  I  was  borne  along 
high    above    nature    by  the    grace    of    God,    and    I   feared    that    I 


382  The  Life  of  Father  Heeker. 


should  die  without  being  subject  to  nature,  and  should  never 
feel  the  need  of  the  supernatural.  But  for  many  years  now  I 
have  been  left  by  God  to  my  natural  weakness  and  get  nothing 
whatever  except  what  I   earn." 

The  following  words  of  his  indicate  the  cleansing  process  of 
these  divine  influences  ;  it  is  from  memoranda  : 

"  He  said  to  me  once,  after  he  had  been  for  nine  or  ten 
years  subject  to  almost  unceasing  desolation  of  spirit,  '  All  this 
suffering,  though  it  has  been  excruciating,  has  greatly  purified 
me  and  was  of  the  last  necessity  to  me.  Oh,  how  proud  I  was! 
how  vain  I  was !  And  these  long  years  of  abandonment  by  God 
have  healed  me.'  I  think  this  was  the  only  time  I  ever  knew 
him  to  connect  his  sufferings  with  fault.  What  he  said  may 
have  referred  to  the  mere  temper  and  frame  of  his  mind  rather 
than  to  particular,  specific  faults.  He  undoubtedly  thought  more 
highly  of  human  nature  before  that  desolation  began  than  he 
did  at  the  end  of  it." 

Meantime  he  used  every  aid  for  the  assuagement  of  his  inte- 
rior sufferings,  just  as  he  conscientiously  tried  every  means  for 
the  restoration  of  his  bodily  health.  Good  books  helped  him 
greatly.  He  recited  his  Breviary  as  he  would  read  a  new  and 
interesting  book,  underlining  here  and  there,  and  noting  on  the 
margins.  But  during  most  of  his  time  of  illness  his  infirmities 
made  the  Divine  Office  impossible.  Every  day  he  read  or  had 
read  to  him  some  parts  of  the  Scriptures  in  English.  "  With- 
out the  Book  of  Job,"  he  used  to  say,  "  I  would  have  broken 
down  completely."  Lallemant,  St.  John  of  the  Cross,  St.  Te- 
resa, St.  Catherine  of  Genoa,  and  other  authors  of  a  mystical 
tendency  he  frequently  used.  But  next  to  the  Scriptures  no 
book  served  him  so  well  during  his  illness  as  Abandonment,  or 
Entire  Surrender  to  Divine  Providence,  a  small  posthumous  trea- 
tise of  Father  P.  J.  Caussade,  S.J.,  edited  and  published  by 
Father  H.  Ramiere,  S.J.,  with  a  strong  defence  of  the  author's 
doctrine  by  way  of  preface.  At  Father  Hecker's  suggestion  it 
was  translated  into  English  by  Miss  Ella  McMahon,  and  has  al- 
ready soothed  many  hearts  in  difficulties  of  every  kind.  It  is 
an  ingenious  compendium  of  all  spiritual  wisdom,  but  it  seemed 
to  Father  Heeker  that  submission  to  the  Divine  Will  is  taught  in 
its  pages  as  it  has  never  been    done  since  the  time  of   the  Apos- 


The  Long  Illness.  383 


ties.  The  little  French  copy  which  he  used  is  thumbed  all  to 
pieces.  He  used  it  incessantly  when  in  great  trouble  of  mind 
and  knew  it  almost  by  heart.  As  he  read  its  sentences  or  heard 
them  read  he  would  ejaculate,  "  Ah,  how  sweet  that  is ! "  "  Oh, 
what  a  great  truth !  "  "  Oh,  that  is  a  most  consoling  doctrine ! " 
just  as  a  man  exhausted  with  thirst  and  covered  with  dust,  as 
he  drinks  and  bathes  at  a  gushing  fountain  in  the  desert,  calls 
out  and  sighs  and  smiles. 

Did  he  not  find  men  here  and  there  in  his  travels  with  whom 
he  would  take  counsel  and  who  could  comfort  him  ?  There  is 
little  trace  of  it,  though  he  never  lacked  sympathetic  friends  for 
his  bodily  ailments.  In  truth  he  tried  to  maintain  a  cheerful  ex- 
terior, though  occasionally  he  failed  in  his  attempts  to  do  so. 
Only  once  do  we  find  by  his  letters  and  diaries  that  he  opened 
his  mind  freely  on  his  interior  difficulties  while  in  Europe,  and 
that  was  to  Cardinal  Deschamps,  who  gave  him,  he  writes,  very 
great  comfort. 

No  part  of  his  sojourn  in  the  Old  World  pleased  and  profit- 
ed him  so  much  as  his  trip    up  the  Nile  in  the  winter  of   1873-4. 

"In  information  of  most  various  kinds,"  he  writes,  "it  has 
been  the  richest  four  months  of  my  whole  life.  The  value  intel- 
lectually and  religiously  as  well  as  physically  is  incalculable. 
Given  but  one  trip,  it  would  puzzle  me  to  name  any  which  can 
compare  with  that  up  the  Nile  to  Wady-Halfa.  Nubia  must  be 
included.  It  has  something  of  its  own  which  you  can  find 
neither  in  Egypt  nor  elsewhere :  silence,  repose,  almost  total 
solitude,  and  its  own  peculiar  people." 

His  companions  were  few  in  number  and  congenial  in  tastes, 
the  climate  mild  and  equable,  and  the  people  and  country  alto- 
gether novel.  The  journey,  which  extended  into  Nubia,  was 
made  in  a  flat-boat,  the  Sittina  Miriam  el  Adra — Our  Lady 
Mary  the  Virgin — the  sail  propelling  them  when  the  wind  was 
fair,  the  crew  towing  them  in  calm  weather ;  when  the  wind  was 
contrary  they  tied  up  to  the  bank.  The  progress  was,  of  course, 
slow,  and  yet  his  diary,  the  only  one  written  during  his  illness 
with  ample  entries,  shows  that  every  day  gave  new  enjoyment. 
He  was  provided  with  letters  which  enabled  him  to  say  Mass  at 
the  missionary  stations  along  the  river.  The  wonderful  ruins  of 
the  ancient    cities  of    Egypt  gave    him    much   entertainment.     But 


384  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


his  mind  dwelt  fondly  on  thoughts  of  Abraham,  Joseph,  and  the 
chosen  people,  and  especially  upon  the  Holy  Family,  as  well  as 
the  monks  of  the  desert.  He  was  much  interested  in  the  Mo- 
hammedan natives ;  their  open  practice  of  prayer,  the  instinc- 
tive readiness  with  which  the  idea  of  God  and  of  eternity  was 
welcomed  to  their  thoughts,  and,  withal,  their  utter  religious 
stagnation,  which  he  traced  to  their  ignorance  of  the  Trinity, 
filled  his  mind  with  questions.  How  to  convert  these  slug- 
gish contemplatives,  what  type  of  Catholicity  would  be  likely 
to  flourish  in  the  East,  and  how  it  could  be  reconciled  with 
the  stirring  traits  of  the  West,  busied  his  mind.  He  often 
recalls  his  distant  friends  and  contrasts  new  America  with  old 
Egypt.  He  wrote  home  when  opportunity  served,  as  thus  to 
Father  Hewit : 

"  With  the  hope  that  this  note  will  reach  you  in  due  season, 
I  greet  you  from  this  land  from  which  Moses  taught,  and  which 
our  infant  Saviour  trod,  with  a  right  merry  Christmas  and  a 
happy  New  Year  to  yourself  and  all  the  members  of  the  com- 
munity, all  in  the  house,  and  the  parishioners  of  St.  Paul's.  In 
my  prayers  all  have  a  share  and  in  the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  al- 
tar. My  heart  and  its  affections  are  present  with  you.  Could  I 
realize  its  desire,  I  would  shed  a  continuous  flow  of  blessings  on 
each  one  of  you  like  a  great  river  Nile — the  river  which  Abra- 
ham saw  and  whose  banks  were  hallowed  by  the  footsteps  of 
Jesus,  Mary,  and  Joseph.  Remember  me  especially  in  all  your 
prayers  on  these  great  festivals.  Offer  up  a  Mass  for  my  special 
intention  on  each  of  them." 

The  excursion  to  Nubia  and  back  did  him  so  much  good 
physically,  and  left  his  mind  with  a  peace  which  seemed  so  set- 
tled, that  for  a  time  he  had  strong  hopes  of  recovery ;  but  he 
was  soon  undeceived. 

On  the  15th  of  April  Father  Hecker  left  Cairo  for  Jerusalem, 
and  spent  some  weeks  in  the  Holy  Land,  continuing  to  enjoy 
an  interval  of  spiritual  relief.      He  writes  : 

"  In  reciting  the  Gloria  and  the  Credo,  after  having  been  in 
the  localities  where  the  great  mysteries  which  they  express  took 
place,  one  is  impressed  in  a  wonderful  manner  with  their  actual- 
ity. The  truths  of  our  holy  faith  seem  to  saturate  one's  blood, 
enter  into  one's  flesh,  and  penetrate  even  to  the  marrow  of  one's 
bones." 


The  Long  //lucss.  385 


The  first  greeting  which  he  sent  from  the  holy  places  was  a 
letter  to  his  mother,  full  of  expressions  of  the  most  tender  affec- 
tion and  gratitude,  as  well  as  of  ardent  religious  emotions  pro- 
duced by  moving  among  the  scenes  of  our  Lord's  life.  He  en- 
closed a  little  bunch  of  wild  flowers  plucked  from  Mount  Sion. 
He  soon  returned  to  Europe  to  escape  the  hot  summer  of  Pales- 
tine, and  began  his  round  of  visits  to  health  resorts,  shrines,  and 
occasionally  to  a  friend  of  more  than  usual  attraction.  His 
brother  John  died  about  this  time,  and  this  news  drew  from  him 
a  letter  of  encouragement  and  condolence  to  their  mother.  To 
George  Hecker  and  his  wife  he  wrote  often,  his  letters  being  full 
of  affection,  of  entire  submission  to  the  Divine  Will,  and  of  relig- 
ious sentiments. 

The  following  may  be  of  interest  as  indicating  the  return  of 
his  disconsolate  frame  of  mind  : 

"  I  have  taken  to  writing  fables.  Here  is  one  :  Once  upon  a 
time  a  bird  was  caught  in  a  snare.  The  more  it  struggled  to 
free  itself,  the  more  it  got  entangled.  Exhausted,  it  resolved  to 
wait  with  the  vain  hope  that  the  fowler,  when  he  came,  would 
set  it  at  liberty.  His  appearance,  however,  was  not  the  signal 
for  its  restoration  to  smiling  fields  and  fond  companions,  but  the 
forerunner  of  death  at  his  hands.  Foolish  bird !  why  did  you 
go  into  the  snare?  Poor  thing;  it  could  not  find  food  anywhere, 
and  it  was  famishing  with  hunger ;  the  seed  was  so  attractive, 
and  he  who  had  baited  the  trap  knew  it  full  well,  and  that  the 
bird  could  not  resist  its  appetite.  The  fowler  is  our  Lord.  The 
bait  is  Divine  Love.  The  bird  is  the  soul.  O  skilful  catcher 
of  souls  !  O  irresistible  bait  of  Divine  Love  !  O  pitiable  victim ! 
but  most  blessed  soul ;  for  in  the  hands  of  our  Lord  the  soul 
only  dies  to  self  to  be  transformed  into  God." 

In  all  his  journeyings  in  search  of  beneficial  change  of  air  or 
for  the  use  of  medicinal  waters,  he  endeavored  to  take  in  the 
famous  shrines ;  as  for  places  noted  in  profane  history,  or  the 
usual  resorts  of  tourists,  there  is  not  the  least  mention  of  them 
in  his  letters,  unless  an  exception  be  made  in  favor  of  those  in 
Egypt  and  some  art  galleries  in  Europe.  But,  "  attracted  by  St. 
Catherine,"  he  went  back  to  her  relics  at  Genoa  once  more. 
Drawn  by  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  he  made  a  visit  to  Annecy  which 
had  a  soothing  effect  upon  him,  for  that  saint  was  another  of  his 


386  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 

favorites.  He  often  went  out  of  his  way  to  see  a  friend,  or 
to  seek  the  acquaintance  of  some  man  or  woman  of  reputation 
in  religious  circles,  and  he  was  himself  surprised  at  the  number 
of  those  who  had  heard  of  him  and  wished  to  know  him.  He 
readily  formed  acquaintances,  and  American,  English,  and 
French  fellow-travellers  could  easily  have  his  conversation  and 
company  on  condition  that  they  would  converse  on  religious 
matters,  or  on  the  graver  social  and  racial  topics.  It  was  not  a 
little  singular  that,  although  suffering  from  weakness  of  the  ner- 
vous system,  he  could  talk  abstruse  philosophy  by  the  hour  with- 
out mental  fatigue.  Discussing  such  points  as  the  different  move- 
ments of  nature  and  grace,  the  various  theories  of  apprehending 
the  existence  of  God,  or  how  to  bring  about  conviction  in  the 
minds  of  non-Catholics  on  the  claims  of  the  Church,  he  could  tire 
the  strong  brain  of  a  well  man.  It  was  the  things  below  which 
tired  him.  He  illustrated  his  conversation  by  gleams  of  light  re- 
flected from  his  past  experience.  When  circumstances  condemn 
such  generous  souls  as  Father  Hecker  to  inactivity,  a  favorite  sol- 
ace is  picking  up  fragments  of  work  or  recalling  high  ideas  from 
the  crowded  memory  of  their  former  zeal,  often  with  much  profit 
to  those  who  listen.  And  this  was  no  idle-minded  or  boastful 
trait  in  him,  as  we  see  from  the  following: 

"  Be  assured  I  shall  not  follow  my  own  will  if  I  can  help  it. 
Every  dictate  of  prudence  and  wisdom  will  be  my  guide.  Until 
the  clouds  clear  away  I  shall  be  quiet,  waiting,  watching  and 
praying,  seeking  for  light  wherever  there  is  a  reasonable  prospect 
of  obtaining  it.  In  the  meanwhile  my  time  is  not  misspent. 
The  journeys  which  I  have  made,  the  persons  whom  I  have  met 
on  my  way — these  and  a  thousand  other  things  incident  to  my 
present  way  of  life  are  the  best  of  educators  for  improving  one's 
mind,  for  correcting  one's  judgments,  and  for  giving  greater 
breadth  to  one's  thoughts.  ...  It  seems  to  me  that  I  al- 
most see  visibly  and  feel  palpably  the  blessing  of  divine  grace 
on  the  work  of  the  community,  in  its  harmony,  in  the  success  of 
its  missions,  in  the  special  graces  to  its  members,  in  their  cheer- 
fulness and  zeal:  all  this,  too,  in  my  absence.  My  absence, 
therefore,  cannot  be  displeasing  to  the  Divine  Will ;  rather  these 
things  seem  to  indicate  the  contrary,  and  they  awake  in  my  soul 
an  inexpressible  consolation." 

But    he  said  to  one  of    his  brethren  afterwards:    "Oh,  father! 


The  Long  Illness.  387 


I  was  sad  all  the  time  that  I  was  in  Europe.  Why  so  ? 
Well,  it  was  because  I  was  away  from  home,  away  from  my 
work,  away  from  my  companions.  And  that  was  why  I  attached 
myself  while  there  to  those  persons  who  felt  as  we  did,  and 
were  of    like  views,   and    participated  in  our  aims  and    purposes." 

How  he  felt  about  his  chances  of  recovery  is  shown  by  the 
following : 

"  I  have  nothing  further  to  say  about  my  health  than  that  I 
have  none.  Were  I  twelve  hours,  or  six,  in  my  former  state  of 
health,  my  conscience  would  give  me  no  moment  of  peace  in  my 
present  position.  It  would  worry  me  and  set  me  to  work.  As 
it  is  I  am  tranquil,  at  peace,  and  doing  nothing  except  willingly 
bearing  feebleness  and  inertia." 

From  Paris,  June  2,  1874,  he  writes  to  George  and  Josephine 
Hecker  of  a  visit  to  Cardinal  Deschamps  in  Brussels,  where  he 
met  his  old  director,  Father  de  Buggenoms.  He  expressed  him- 
self fully  to  them  about  the  state  of  religion  in  Europe,  and,  al- 
though both  were  his  admirers  and  warm  friends,  it  was  only  on 
the  third  day  that  he  made  himself  fully  understood,  and  dis- 
abused their  minds  of  reserves  and  suspicions.  But  before  leav- 
ing "  a  complete  understanding,  warm  sympathy,  and  entire  ap- 
proval "  was  the  result.  In  one  of  the  earlier  chapters  of  this 
Life  we  have  adverted  to  Father  Hecker's  difficulty  in  making 
himself  understood.  On  this  occasion  he  suffered  much  pain,  for 
which,  he  says,  the  joy  of  the  final  agreement  amply  repaid  him. 

He  formed  an  intimate  friendship  with  the  Abbe  Xavier  Du- 
fresne,  a  devout  and  enlightened  priest  of  Geneva,  and  with  his 
father,  Doctor  Dufresne,  well  known  as  the  mainstay  of  all  the 
works  of  charity  and  religion  in  that  city.  The  Abbe  Dufresne 
became  much  attached  to  Father  Hecker.  "The  Almighty 
knows,"  he  wrote  to  him,  "  how  ardently  I  wish  to  see  you 
again,  for  no  one  can  feel  more  than  I  the  want  of  your  conver- 
sation, it  was  so  greatly  to  my  improvement."  We  have  received 
from  the  Abbe  Dufresne  a  memorial  of  Father  Hecker,  which  is 
valuable  as  independent  contemporary  testimony.  It  is  so  appre- 
ciative and  so  instructive  that  we  shall  give  the  greater  part  of 
it  as  an  appendix,  together  with  two  letters  from  Cardinal  New- 
man written  after  Father  Hecker's  death. 

The  following  is  from  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Craven,  written  early 
in   1875  : 


388  The  Life  of  Fat  he?'  Hccker. 

"  That  we  have  thought  of  you  very  often  I  need  not  tell 
you,  nor  yet  that  we  have  thought  and  talked  of  and  pondered 
over  the  many  and  the  great  subjects  which  have  been  dis- 
cussed during  this  week  of  delightful  repose  and  solitude 
(though  certainly  not  of  silence).  Let  me,  for  one,  tell  you  that 
many  words  of  yours  will  be  deeply  and  gratefully  and  usefully 
remembered,  and  that  I  feel  as  if  all  you  explained  to  us  in 
particular  concerning  the  inward  life  which  alone  gives  meaning 
and  usefulness  to  outward  signs  and  symbols  (let  them  be  ever 
so  sacred),  and  the  ways  and  means  of  quickening  that  inward 
life,  all  come  home  to  me  as  a  clear  expression  of  my  own 
thoughts  by  one  who  had  read  them  better  than   myself." 

Such  was  a  devout  and  intellectual  Frenchwoman's  way  of 
describing  an  influence  similarly  felt  by  men  and  women  of  all 
classes,  and  of  the  most  diverse  schools  of  thought,  whom 
Father  Hecker  met  in   Europe. 

This  was  written  on  hearing  news  of  the  community : 

"  It  is  consoling  to  see  all  these  good  works  progressing  [in 
the  Paulist  community].  To  me  they  sound  more  like  an  echo 
of  my  past  than  the  actual  present.  Before  going  up  the  Nile 
I  used  to  say  to  some  of  my  friends,  that  I  once  knew  a  man 
whose  name  was  Hecker,  but  had  lost  his  acquaintance,  and  I 
was  going  up  the  Nile  to  find  him.  Perhaps  I  would  overtake 
him  at  Wady-Halfa  in  Nubia !  But  I  didn't.  Sometimes  I 
think  the  search  is  in  vain,  and  that  I  shall  have  to  resign  my- 
self to  his  loss  and  begin  a  new  life.  Tuesday  of  this  week  my 
intention  is  to  go  to  Milan  and  stop  some  days.  I  find  friends 
in  almost  every  city.  Friday  last  I  dined  with  the  Archbishop 
of  Turin,  and  have  made  the  acquaintance  of  one  or  two  priests 
here.  Occasionally  I  visit  museums,  picture  galleries,  etc.  ;  and 
thus  time  is  outwardly  passing  by,  until  it  pleases  God  to  shed 
more  light  on  my  soul,  and  to  impart  more  strength  to  my 
body,  and  make  clear  my  path." 

Here  are  his  impressions  of  Rome  after  its  occupation  by 
the  Italians,  together  with  an  account  of  an  audience  with  the 
Holy  Father  : 

"  Rome  is  indeed  changed,  not  so  much  outwardly,  ma- 
terially, as  in  spiritual  atmosphere.  It  has  lost  its  Christian 
exorcism  and  returned  to  its  former  pagan  condition.  The 
modern  spirit,  too,  has    entered    it  with    activity   in    the    material 


The  Long  Illness.  389 


order.  The  old  order,  I  fear,  is  never  to  return  ;  that  is  to  say, 
as  it  was  ;  if  it  returns  at  all  it  will  be  on  another  basis.  The 
last  citadel  has  given  way  to  the  invasion  of  modern  activity 
and  push.  Who  would  have  dreamed  of  this  twenty  years  ago? 
The  charm  of  Rome  is  gone,  even  to  non-Catholics,  for  they 
felt  raised  above  themselves  into  a  more  congenial  and  spiritual 
atmosphere  while  here,  and  their  souls  enjoyed  it,  though  their 
intellectual  prejudices  were  opposed  to  the  principles.  The 
charm  they  were  conscious  of  forced  them  back  again  to  Rome 
in  spite  of  themselves.  But  that  charm  has  in  a  great  measure 
gone." 

"  The  other  evening  I  had  a  very  pleasant  private  audience 
with  the  Holy  Father.  Among  other  matters  I  showed  him 
The  Young  Catholic,  which  pleased  him  very  much.  He  was 
struck  with  the  size  of  the  jackass  in  the  picture  of  Ober- 
Ammergau,  and  asked  if  they  grew  so  large  in  that  country.  I 
replied :  '  Holy  Father,  asses  nowadays  grow  large  everywhere.' 
He  laughed  heartily  and  said,  '  Bene  trovato.'  " 

Father  Hecker  was  in  Rome  when,  in  March,  1875,  his  old 
friend  and  patron  and  first  spiritual  adviser,  Archbishop  McClos- 
key,  was  made  Cardinal.  He  was  much  rejoiced,  and  sent  the 
Cardinal  a  rich  silk  cassock,  and  gave  a  public  banquet  to  Mon- 
signor  Roncetti  and  Doctor  Ubaldi,  who  were  to  carry  the  in- 
signia of  the  cardinalate  to  New  York.  We  are  indebted  to 
the  kindness  of  Archbishop  Corrigan  for  a  copy  of  Father 
Hecker's  letter  of  congratulation,  the  principal  parts  of  which 
we  subjoin.  The  view  of  public  policy  concerning  the  College 
of  Cardinals  expressed  in  this  letter  was  developed  at  length  in 
an  article  published  by  Father  Hecker  in  The  Catholic  World 
when  Cardinal  Gibbons  was  appointed  ;  it  will  also  be  found 
in  his  latest  volume,    The  Church  and  the  Age  : 

"  The  choice  of  the  Supreme  Pontiff  in  making  you  the  first 
Cardinal  of  the  hierarchy  of  the  United  States  gives  great  satis- 
faction here  to  all  your  friends.  For  as  honors  and  dignities  in 
the  Church  proceed  by  way  of  distinguished  merit  and  abilities, 
the  qualities  which  they  have  always  recognized  and  esteemed 
in  you  are  by  the  event  made  known  to  the  whole  world. 

"  This  elevation  to  the  cardinalate  of  an  American  prelate  is 
a  cheering   sign    that    the    dignities    of    the    Church    are   open    to 


390  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


men  of  merit  of  all  nations,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  every 
nation  will  be  represented  in  the  College  of  Cardinals  in  pro- 
portion to  its  importance,  and  in  that  way  the  Holy  See  will 
represent  by  its  advisers  the  entire  world,  and  render  its  uni- 
versality more  complete.  The  Church  will  be  a  gainer,  and  the 
world  too  ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  your  appointment  to  this 
office  in  the  Church  will  be,  from  this  point  of  view,  popular 
with  the  American  people." 

His  continued  and  insensibly  increasing  weakness  of  body, 
as  well  as  what  seemed  an  unconquerable  mental  aversion  to 
attempting  even  partially  to  resume  his  former  career  in  the 
United  States,  seemed  to  settle  negatively  the  question  of  his 
early  return  home.  He  began  to  think  that  it  was  God's  will  that 
he  should  permanently  transfer  his  influence  to  the  Old  World. 
His  mind  was  full  of  the  religious  problems  of  Europe,  and  the 
notion  of  Paulists  for  Europe,  differing  in  details  from  Ameri- 
can Paulists  but  identical  in  spirit,  soon  occupied  his  thoughts. 
The  reader  will  remember  Father  Hecker's  conviction,  expressed 
when  leaving  Rome  after  the  Vatican  Council,  that  the  condi- 
tion of  things  in  the  Old  World  invited  the  apostolate  of  a  free 
community  of  wholly  sanctified  men,  such  as  he  would  have  the 
Paulists  to  be.  He  now  became  persuaded,  or  almost  so,  that 
God  meant  his  illness  to  be  the  means  of  practically  inaugurat- 
ing such  a  movement.  By  it  the  dim  outlines  of  men's  yearn- 
ings for  a  religious  awakening,  which  he  everywhere  met  with 
among  the  European  nations,  could  be  brought  out  distinctly 
and  realized  by  an  adaptation  of  the  essentials  of  community 
life  to  changed  European  conditions.  He  thought  he  could 
select  the  leading  spirits  for  the  work,  and,  without  overtaxing 
his  strength,  teach  them  the  principles  and  inspire  them  with 
the  spirit  necessary  to  success.  All  this  is  brought  forward  in 
his    letters    and    discussed.     But  it  was    not    to    be  in    his    time. 

The  following  entries  in  his  journal,  made  during  the  Lent  of 
1875,  have  this  European,  or  rather  universal,  apostolate  in  view: 

"  The  Holy  Spirit  is  preparing  the  Church  for  an  increased 
infusion  of  Himself  in  the  hearts  of  the  faithful.  This  increased 
action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  will  renew  the  whole  face  of  the 
earth,  in  religion  and  in  society.  Souls  will  be  inspired  by  Him 
to  assist  in  bringing  about  this  end. 


The  J^o>ig  Illness.  391 


''The  question  is  how  shall  such  souls  co-operate  with  Him 
in  preparation  for  this  extraordinary  outpouring  of  divine  grace  ? 
The  law  of  all  extensive  and  effectual  work  is  that  of  associa- 
tion. The  inspiration  and  desire  and  strength  to  co-operate  and 
associate  in  facilitating  this  preparation  for  the  Holy  Spirit  must 
come  to  each  soul  from  the  Holy  Spirit   Himself. 

"  What  will  be  the  nature  of  this  association  and  the  special 
character  of  its  work  ?  The  end  to  be  had  in  view  will  be  to 
set  on  foot  a  means  of  co-operation  with  the  Church  in  the  con- 
quest of  the  whole  world  to  Christ,  the  renewal  of  the  Apostolic 
spirit  and  life.  For  unity,  activity,  and  choice  of  means  reliance 
should  be  had  upon  the  bond  of  charity  in  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
upon   His  inspirations. 

"  The  central  truth  to  actuate  the  members  should  be  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  within  the  soul,  which  should  be  made  the 
burden  of    all  sermons,  explaining  how  it  is  to  be  gained  now. 

"  Men  will  be  called  for  who  have  that  universal  synthesis  of 
truth  which  will  solve  the  problems,  eliminate  the  antagonisms, 
and  meet  the  great  needs  of  the  age  ;  men  who  will  defend  and 
uphold  the  Church  against  the  attacks  which  threaten  her 
destruction,  with  weapons  suitable  to  the  times ;  men  who  will 
turn  all  the  genuine  aspirations  of  the  age,  in  science,  in  social 
ism,  in  politics,  in  spiritism,  in  religion,  which  are  now  perverted 
against  the  Church,  into  means  of  her  defence  and  universal 
triumph. 

"  If  it  be  asked,  therefore,  in  what  way  the  co-operation  with 
the  new  phase  of  the  Church  in  the  increase  of  intensity  and 
expansion  of  her  divine  life  in  the  souls  of  men  is  to  be  insti- 
tuted, the  answer  is  as  follows :  By  a  movement  .  .  .  spring- 
ing from  the  synthesis  of  the  most  exalted  faith  with  all  the 
good  and  true  in  the  elements  now  placed  in  antagonism  to  the 
Church,  thus  eliminating  antagonisms  and  vacating  contro- 
versies.    .     .     ." 

"Can  a  certain  number  of  souls  be  found  who  are  actuated 
by  the  instinct  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  genius  of  grace,  to  form 
an  associative  effort  in  the  special  work  of  the  present  time  ? 
If  there  be  such  a  work,  and  an  associative  effort  be  ndcessary, 
will  not  the  Holy  Spirit  produce  in  souls,  certain  ones  at  least, 
such  a  vocation  ?  Is  not  the  bond  of  unity  in  the  Holy  Spirit 
which  will  unite  such  souls  all  that  is  needed  in  the  present 
state  of  things  to  do  this  work  ?  " 


CHAPTER   XXXIII. 


"THE   EXPOSITION   OF   THE   CHURCH 


>» 


WHILE  in  Europe  God  opened  Father  Hecker's  soul  to  the 
cries  of  the  nations.  He  was  profoundly  interested  in  the 
state  of  religion  there,  and  the  persecutions  suffered  by  Catholics 
in  Germany,  in  Switzerland,  and  in  Italy  during  his  stay,  while  it 
aroused  his  sympathies,  increased  his  desire  to  find  a  remedy,  and 
a  fundamental  one,  for  the  evils  from  which  the  Church  suffered. 
The  peoples  of  the  Old  World,  with  their  differing  tendencies, 
were  incessantly  disputing  in  his  mind.  They  were  always  dis- 
playing over  against  each  other  their  diverse  traits  of  race  and 
tradition,  at  the  same  time  that  they  were  actually  passing  be- 
fore his  eyes  in  his  constant  journeyings  in  search  of  health. 

What  amazed  and  no  less  irritated  Father  Hecker  was  the 
political  apathy  of  Catholics.  All  the  active  spirits  seemed  to 
hate  religion.  A  small  minority  of  anti-Christians  was  allowed 
entire  control  of  Italy  and  France,  and  exhibited  in  the  govern- 
ment of  those  foremost  Catholic  commonwealths  a  pagan  ferocity 
against  everything  sacred;  and  this  was  met  by  "timid  listless- 
ness"  on  the  part  of  the  Catholic  majority.  These  latter  evad- 
ed the  accusation  of  criminal  cowardice  by  an  extravagant  dis- 
play of  devotional  religion.  I  To  account  for  this  anomaly  and  to 
offer  a  remedy  for  it,  Father  Hecker  in  the  winter  of  1875  pub- 
lished a  pamphlet  of  some  fifty  pages,  entitled  An  Exposition  of 
the  Church  in  View  of  Recent  Difficulties  and  Controversies  and 
the  Present  Needs  of  the  Age.  It  is  a  brief  outline  of  his  views, 
held  more  or  less  distinctly  since  his  case  in  Rome  in  1857-8, 
but  fully  unfolded  in  his  mind  at  the  Vatican  Council  and  ma- 
tured during  his  present  sojourn  in  Europe ;  the  reader  has 
already  been  given  a  summary  of  them  in  a  letter  treating  of 
the  providential  meaning  of  the  Vatican  decrees. 

What  is  the  matter  with  Catholics,  that  they  allow  their 
national  life,  in  education,  in  art,  in  literature,  in  general  poli- 
tics, to  be  paganized  by  petty  cliques  of  unbelievers?  How  ac- 
count for  this  weakness  of  character  in  Catholics?  The  answer 
is  that  the  devotional  and  ascetical  type  on  which  they  are 
formed  is  one  calculated  to  repress  individual  activity,  a  quality 
essential  to  political  success  in  our  day.  Energy  in  the  world  of 
modern  politics  is  not  the  product  of  the    devotional  spirit  domi- 

392 


"  The  Expositio)i  of  the  Church"  393 


nant  on  the  continent  of  Europe.  That  spirit  in  its  time  saved 
the  Church,  for  it  fostered  submission  when  the  temptation  was 
to  revolt. 

"The  exaggeration,"  says  the  Exposition,  "of  personal 
authority  on  the  part  of  Protestants  brought  about  in  the 
Church  its  greater  restraint,  in  order  that  her  divine  authority 
might  have  its  legitimate  exercise  and  exert  its  salutary  influence. 
The  errors  and  evils  of  the  times  [the  Reformation  era]  sprang 
from  an  unbridled  personal  independence,  which  could  only  be 
counteracted  by  habits  of  increased  personal  dependence.  Con- 
traria  amtrariis  curantur.  The  defence  of  the  Church  and  the 
salvation  of  the  soul  were  [under  these  circumstances]  ordinarily 
secured  at  the  expense,  necessarily,  of  those  virtues  which  pro- 
perly go  to  make  up  the  strength  of  Christian  manhood.  The 
gain  was  the  maintenance  and  victory  of  divine  truth,  and  the 
salvation  of  the  soul.  The  loss  was  a  certain  falling  off  in 
energy,  resulting  in  decreased  action  in  the  natural  order.  The 
former  was  a  permanent  and  inestimable  gain.  The  latter  was  a 
temporary  and  not  irreparable  loss." 

The  passive  virtues,  fostered  under  an  overruling  Providence 
for  the  defence  of  threatened  external  authority  in  religion,  and 
producing  admirable  effects  of  uniformity,  discipline,  and  obedi- 
ence, served  well  in  the  politics  of  the  Reformation  and  post- 
Reformation  eras,  when  nearly  all  governments  were  absolute 
monarchies ;  but  the  present  governments  are  republics  or  con- 
stitutional monarchies,  and  are  supposed  to  be  ruled  by  the 
citizens  themselves.  This  demands  individual  initiative,  active 
personal  exertion  and  direct  interference  in  public  affairs.  Vigi- 
lant and  courageous  voters  rule  the  nations.  Therefore,  without 
injury  to  entire  obedience,  the  active  virtues  in  both  the  natural 
and  supernatural  orders  must  be  mainly  cultivated  ;  in  the  first 
order  everything  that  makes  for  self-reliance,  and  in  the  second 
the  interior  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  individual  soul. 
This,  the  Exposition  maintains,  is  the  way  out  of  present  diffi- 
culties. That  it  is  the  Providential  way  out,  is  shown  by  most 
striking  evidence  :  the  diversion  of  the  anti-Catholic  forces  from 
the  attack  against  authority  to  one  against  the  most  elementary 
principles  of  religion — God,  conscience,  and  immortality;  the 
drift  of   Anglo-Saxon     and    Teutonic    minds    of   a    religious    cast 


394  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


towards  the  Church,  calling  for  spiritual  attractions  in  accord- 
ance with  the  independence  of  character  peculiar  to  those 
races ;  the  hopeless  failure  of  the  post-Reformation  methods  to 
meet  the  needs  of  the  hour ;  and  especially  the  Vatican  decrees, 
which  have  set  at  rest  all  controversy  on  authority  among  Cath- 
olics. The  needs  of  the  times,  therefore,  call  for  virtues  among 
Catholics  which  shall  display  the  personal  force  of  Catholic  life 
no  less  than  that  which  is  organic.  These  must  all  centre 
around    the    cultivation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  individual  soul. 

"  The  light  the  age  requires  for  its  renewal,"  says  the  Exposi- 
tion, "  can  only  come  from  the  same  source.  The  renewal  of  the 
age  depends  on  the  renewal  of  religion.  The  renewal  of  religion 
depends  upon  the  greater  effusion  of  the  creative  and  renewing 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  greater  effusion  of.  the  Holy 
Spirit  depends  on  the  giving  of  increased  attention  to  His  move- 
ments and  inspirations  in  the  soul.  The  radical  and  adequate 
remedy  for  all  the  evils  of  our  age,  and  the  source  of  all  true 
progress,  consist  in  increased  attention  and  fidelity  to  the  action 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  soul.  'Thou  shalt  send  forth  Thy 
Spirit  and  they  shall  be  created:  and  Thou  shalt  renew  the 
face    of    the  earth.'" 

The  following  extract  gives  the  synthesis  of  the  twofold 
action  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  showing  how  external  authority  and 
obedience  to  it  are  amply  secured  by  the  interior  virtues  : 

"The  Holy  Spirit  in  the  external  authority  of  the  Church 
acts  as  the  infallible  interpreter  and  criterion  of  divine  revelation. 
The  Holy  Spirit  in  the  soul  acts  as  the  Divine  Life-giver  and 
Sanctifier.  It  is  of  the  highest  importance  that  these  two  dis- 
tinct offices  of  the  Holy  Spirit  should  not  be  confounded.  The 
supposition  that  there  can  be  any  opposition,  or  contradiction, 
between  the  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  supreme  decisions 
of  the  authority  of  the  Church,  and  the  inspirations  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  the  soul,  can  never  enter  the  mind  of  an  enlightened 
and  sincere  Christian.  The  Holy  Spirit,  which  through  the  au- 
thority of  the  Church  teaches  divine  truth,  is  the  same  Spirit 
which  prompts  the  soul  to  receive  the  divine  truths  which  He 
teaches.  The  measure  of  our  love  for  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the 
measure  of  our  obedience  to  the  authority  of  the  Church.  .  .  . 
There  is  one  Spirit,  which    acts    in    two    different    offices    concur- 


"  The  Exposition  of  the  Church."  395 


ring    to  the    same    end,  the  regeneration  and  sanctification  of  the 
soul. 

"  In  case  of  obscurity  or  doubt  concerning  what  is  the 
divinely  revealed  truth,  or  whether  what  prompts  the  soul  is  or 
is  not  an  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  recourse  must  be  had 
to  the  Divine  Teacher  or  criterion,  the  authority  of  the  Church. 
For  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  to  the  Church,  as  repre- 
sented in  the  first  instance  by  St.  Peter,  and  subsequently  by 
his  successors,  was  made  the  promise  of  her  Divine  Founder, 
that '  the  gates  of  hell  should  never  prevail  against  her.'  No  such 
promise  was  ever  made  by  Christ  to  each  individual  believer. 
'The  Church  of  the  living  God,  the  pillar  and  ground  of  Truth.' 
The  test,  therefore,  of  a  truly  enlightened  and  sincere  Christian 
will  be,  in  case  of  uncertainty,  the  promptitude  of  his  obedience 
to  the  voice  of  the  Church. 

"  From  the  above  plain  truths  the  following  practical  rule  of 
conduct  may  be  drawn :  The  Holy  Spirit  is  the  immediate 
guide  of  the  soul  in  the  way  of  salvation  and  sanctification  ;  and 
the  criterion,  or  test,  that  the  soul  is  guided  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
is  its  ready  obedience  to  the  authority  of  the  Church.  This  rule 
removes  all  danger  whatever,  and  with  it  the  soul  can  walk,  run, 
or  fly,  if  it  chooses,  in  the  greatest  safety  and  with  perfect  lib- 
erty, in  the  ways  of  sanctity." 

"  The  practical  aim  of  all  true  religion  is  to  bring  each  indi- 
vidual soul  under  the  immediate  guidance  of  the  Divine  Spirit. 
The  Divine  Spirit  communicates  Himself  to  the  soul  by  means 
of  the  sacraments  of  the  Church.  The  Divine  Spirit  acts  as  the 
interpreter  and  criterion  of  revealed  truth  by  the  authority  of 
the  Church.  The  Divine  Spirit  acts  as  the  principle  of  regener- 
ation and  sanctification  in  each  Christian  soul. 

"  Such  an  exposition  of  Christianity,  the  union  of  the  in- 
ternal with  the  external  notes  of  credibility,  is  calculated  to 
produce  a  more  enlightened  and  intense  conviction  of  its  divine 
truth  in  the  faithful,  to  stimulate  them  to  a  more  energetic  per- 
sonal action ;  and,  what  is  more,  it  would  open  the  door  to 
many  straying  but  not  altogether  lost  children,  for  their  return 
to  the  fold  of  the  Church.  The  increased  action  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  with  a  more  vigorous  co-operation  on  the  part  of  the 
faithful,  which  is  in  process  of  realization,  will  elevate  the  human 
personality  to  an  intensity  of  force  and  grandeur  productive  of 
a  new  era  in  the  Church  and  to  society ;   an  era   difficult  for  the 


396  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


imagination  to  grasp,  and  still  more  difficult  to  describe  in 
words,  unless  we  have  recourse  to  the  prophetic  language  of  the 
inspired   Scriptures." 

It  is  thus  made  plain  that  Father  Hecker  does  not  deny  the 
harmony  between  the  devotional  spirit  and  practices  prevalent  in 
different  ages  of  the  Church  ;  but  he  calls  attention  to  the  fact 
that  the  dominant  note  of  one  age  is  not  always  the  same  as 
that  in  another.  And  in  using  the  words  criterion  and  test,  de- 
scriptive  of  the  Church,  he  would  convey  their  full  meaning: 
not  merely  a  plumb-line  for  the  rising  wall  but  divine  accuracy 
itself  made  external.  His  outer  criterion  is  to  the  inner  life 
what  articulate  speech  is  to  the  human  voice. 

"The  Exposition  is  nothing  else,"  he  writes  home,  "than  a 
general  outline  of  a  movement  from  without  to  within ;  as  in 
the  sixteenth  century  the  movement  was  one  from  within  to 
without.  This  was  occasioned  by  the  nature  of  the  attack  of 
Protestantism.  The  Church  having  with  increased  [external] 
agencies  protected  what  was  assaulted,  can  return  to  her  normal 
course  with  increased  action.  I  give  an  indication  of  the  nature 
of  this  movement : 

"An  increased  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  soul  in  con- 
sequence of  this  greater  attention  directed  to  the  interior  life, 
and  a  more  perfect  explanation  of  the  same.  An  exposition  of 
the  relation  of  the  external  to  the  internal  in  the  Church.  The 
action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  soul  and  His  gifts  are  the  reme- 
dies for  the  evils  of  our  times.  The  development  of  the  intelli- 
gible side  of  the  mysteries  of  faith,  and  the  intrinsic  reasons  of 
the  truths  of  divine  revelation.  Such  a  movement  will  open  the 
door  for  the  return  of  the  Saxon  races.  The  Latin-Celts  in  rela- 
tion to  the  development  of  the  hierarchy,  discipline,  worship,  and 
aesthetics  of  the  Church  are  considered.  Causes  of  Protestantism 
— antagonism  and  jealousy  of  races ;  present  persecutions.  The 
Saxon  idea  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Reason  for  it — they  see  only 
the  outward  and  human  side  of  the  Church.  Return  of  the 
Saxons  in  consequence  of  the  new  phase  of  development — the 
display  of  the  inward  and  the  divine  to  their  intelligence.  The 
transition  of  races ;  in  the  future  the  Saxon  will  supernaturalize 
the  natural,  the  Latin-Celts  will  naturalize  the  supernatural.  The 
plan  and  suggestions  given  are  the  way  to  escape  the  extermina- 


"  The  Exposition  of  the  Church."  397 

tion  of  Christianity  by  the  Saxons,  and  the  denial  of  Christianity 
by  the  apostasy  of  the  Latins.  The  union  of  these  races  in 
the  Church,  with  their  civilization  and  force,  is  the  means  of 
spreading  Christianity  rapidly   over  the  whole  world. 

"  In  the  Exposition  I  follow  simply  the  footsteps  of  the 
Church  as  indicated  in  her  history,  in  the  Encyclicals  of  Pius 
IX.,  and  the  Vatican  Council.  The  Church  is  God  acting 
directly  on  the  human  race,  guiding  it  to  its  true  destiny,  the 
road  of  all  true  progress." 

The  Exposition,  as  already  said,  had  been  talked  to  all 
comers  by  Father  Hecker,  and  in  various  parts  of  Europe,  but 
was  put  into  shape  in  the  autumn  of  1874,  while  he  was  in  the 
north  of  Italy.  He  took  it  to  Rome  and  offered  it  to  the  Pro- 
paganda Press.  No  fault  was  found  with  it ;  many  high  digni- 
taries, some  of  them  members  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Sacred 
Palace,  which  has  charge  of  the  censorship,  heartily  approved  of 
it  and  would  have  it  published  at  once  ;  but  at  the  last  moment 
this  was  decided  by  the  authorities  to  be  inexpedient.  It  was 
then  sent  to  London,  and  Pickering  brought  it  out  anonymously, 
and  it  was  at  once  put  into  French  by  Mrs.  Craven.  It  was 
published  as  a  leader  in  The  Catholic  World  about  the  same 
time,  and  in  1887  formed  the  first  chapter  of  The  Church  and 
the  Age,  a  compilation  of  Father  Hecker's  more  important 
later  essays. 

The  Exposition  contributes  to  the  solution  of  the  race  prob- 
lem as  it  affects  religion.  A  glance  at  Europe  shows  the  radical 
difference  which  is  symbolized  by  the  terms  Transalpine  and  Cis- 
alpine, Latin  and  Teutonic.  The  one  group  of  races  most  readi- 
ly clings  to  the  interior  virtues  of  religion,  the  other  to  external 
institutions.  The  problem  is  how  to  reconcile  them,  how  to 
bring  both  into  unity.  Father  Hecker  believed  that  the  Latin 
race  had  crowned  its  work  in  the  Vatican  Council  and  done  it 
gloriously,  and  that  the  time  had  arrived  to  invite  the  Teutonic 
race  to  develop  its  force  in  the  interior  life  of  the  Church. 
There  are  passages  in  the  following  letter  which  indicate  the 
weight  of  this  racial  problem  to  him,  as  well  as  the  supernatural 
earnestness  which  he  brought  to  the  study  of  it.  It  serves  to 
explain  a  remark  he  once  made  :  "  I  wrote  the  Exposition  while 
I  was  having  very  many  lights  about  the  Holy  Ghost — I 
couldn't  help  but  write  it." 


398  The  Life  of  Father  Heeker. 

"Paris,  June  11,  1874. 

"  Dear  George  and  Josephine  :  There  is  not  much  for 
me  to  add  to  my  letter  of  the  third  of  this  month.  My  prepa- 
rations are  made  to  go  to  Mayence  during  the  Catholic  Assem- 
bly, which  commences  on  the  fifteenth  and  lasts  three  days. 
There  I  shall  meet  several  persons  whom  I  am  interested  in  and 
wish  to  see.  Besides,  ecclesiastical  affairs  in  the  German  Empire 
are  in  a  very  critical  state,  and  this  must  add  to  the  interest  of 
the  Assembly.  Meeting,  as  I  frequently  do,  the  leading  minds 
of  Europe,  enables  me  to  compare  views,  appreciate  difficulties, 
and  hear  objections. 

"  It  is  just  as  difficult  to  get  the  Celtic  [and  Latin]  mind  to 
conceive  and  appreciate  the  internal  notes  of  the  Church,  and 
the  character  of  her  divine  interior  life,  as  it  is  to  get  the  Teu- 
tonic mind  to  conceive  and  appreciate  the  divine  external  con- 
stitution of  the  Church,  the  importance,  and  essential  importance, 
of  her  authority,  discipline,  and  liturgy.  But  the  weakness  of 
the  former,  and  the  persecutions  now  permitted  by  Divine 
Providence  to  be  visited  on  the  latter,  are  teaching  them  both 
the  lessons  they  need  to  learn.  To  complete  the  development 
of  the  truth;  of  the  Church,  each  needs  the  other  ;  and  Divine 
Providence  is  shaping  things  so  that  in  spite  of  all  obstacles, 
natural  and  induced,  a  synthesis  of  them  both  is  forming  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Church.  The  work  is  slow  but  certain,  concealed 
from  ordinary  observation  because  divine ;  but  exceedingly  beau- 
tiful. Underneath  all  the  persecutions,  the  oppression,  the  false 
action,  the  whole  outwardly  critical  condition  of  the  Church  and 
society,  there  is  an  overpowering,  counteracting,  divine  current, 
leading  to  an  all-embracing,  most  complete,  and  triumphant 
unity  in  the  Church.  To  see  how  all  things — wicked  men  as 
well  as  the  good,  for  God  reigns  over  all — contribute  to  this  end 
and  are  made  to  serve  it,  gives  peace  to  the  mind,  repose  to  the 
soul,  and  excites  admiration  and  adoration  of  the  Divine  action 
in  the    world. 

"To  have  a  conception  of  this  all-embracing  and  direct  action 
of  God  in  the  affairs  of  this  world,  and  by  the  light  of  faith  to 
see  that  the  Church  is  the  dwelling  place  of  His  holiness,  majes- 
ty, mercy,  and  power,  and  is  the  medium  of  this  action,  at  first 
stupefies,  overwhelms,  and,  as  it  were,  reduces  the  soul  to  nothing. 
By    degrees    and    imperceptibly  it    is  raised  from  its  nothingness; 


"  The  Exposition  of  the  Char  eh."  399 


timidly  the  soul  opens  its  eyes  and  ventures  to  cast  a  glance, 
and  then  to  contemplate  the  Divinity  which  everywhere  sur- 
rounds it,  as  air  and  light  do  our  bodies.  The  contemplation  of 
the  Divine  action  becomes  its  only  occupation  and  it  is  an  irre 
sistible  one.  All  the  life,  mind,  and  strength  of  the  soul  is  in- 
voluntarily absorbed  in  this  direction,  leaving  the  body  scarcely 
sufficient  strength  to  continue  its  ordinary  functions. 

"  How  far  will  the  body  regain  its  former  strength  ?  What 
will  be  the  relation  of  the  soul  with  its  former  occupations  ? 
Will  this  additional  light  require  other  conditions?  Was  this 
light  given  for  another  and  wider  field  of  labor?  These  and 
many  other  questions  must  arise  in  the  soul,  which  in  due  season 
will  be  answered.  Its  present  duty  is  to  practise  conformity  to 
God's  will,  patience,  detachment,  discretion,  and  confidence." 

There  is  hardly  any  part  of  this  Life  which  does  not  assist 
one  in  understanding  the  Exposition,  especially  the  chapters  on 
the  idea  of  a  religious  community  and  that  giving  his  spiritual 
doctrine.  Many  leading  spirits  hailed  it  with  joy,  among  them 
Margotti,  the  editor  of  the  Unita  Cattolica  of  Turin,  and  Cardi- 
nal Deschamps.  The  former  made  Father  Hecker's  acquaintance 
during  a  visit  to  Turin,  and  became  a  warm  admirer  of  him  and 
his  views.  He  compelled  him  to  leave  the  hotel  and  lodge  at 
his  house  during  his  stay  in  that  city.  When  the  Exposition 
came  out  he  gave  it  two  long  and  highly  commendatory  notices 
in  his  journal,  at  the  time  the  most  influential  Catholic  one  in 
Italy,  and  published  three  chapters  entire. 

We  have  a  copy  of  the  Exposition  annotated,  at  Father  Heck- 
er's request,  by  the  late  distinguished  Jesuit,  Father  H.  Ramiere. 
These  comments  are  valuable  and  suggestive.  While  modifying 
Father  Hecker's  judgment  as  to  the  causes  of  the  deterioration 
of  Catholic  manliness,  Father  Ramiere  recognizes  the  fact.  The 
remedies  receive  his  emphatic  approval,  as  also  the  author's  ex- 
planation of  the  synthesis  of  the  inner  and  outer  action  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  in  the  Church. 

When  The  Church  and  the  Age  appeared  the  English  Jesuit 
magazine,  The  Month,  in  its  issue  of  July,  1888,  gave  the  book  a 
very  full  and  favorable  review,  endorsing  all  the  principles  of  the 
Exposition.  After  saying  that  the  Vatican  decrees  mark  a  spe- 
cial epoch  in  the  evolution  of  Christianity,  and  close  a  period  of 
attack — one  of  the  sharpest  which  the  Church  has  ever  sustained 
— upon  her  external  authority,  the  reviewer  continues: 


4-00  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

"  It  completed  the  Church's  defence,  and  left  her  free  to  con- 
tinue unimpeded  her  normal  course  of  internal  development^ 
The  author  displays  remarkable  breadth  of  thought,  and 
the  book  contains  many  passages  which  are  not  only  eloquent  as 
a  defence  of  Catholicity,  but  which  cannot  fail  to  impart  instruc- 
tion to  the  reflecting  reader.  We  think  it  deserving  of  a  wide 
circulation  among  both  clergy  and  laity,  and  it  is  with  a  desire 
to  further  such  a  result  that  we  propose  to  explain  at  some 
length  the  views  which  we  have  already  touched  upon. 
We  want  a  Catholic  individualism,  which  necessarily  requires  a 
clear  and  recognized  authority  as  a  safeguard  against  the  errors 
to  which  individualism  exposes  itself,  but  which,  on  the  other 
hand,  can  never  be  begotten  by  the  mere  principle  of  authority 
as  such." 

The  Literarischer  Handweiser,  a  German  Catholic  critical  re- 
view, published  in  Minister,  having  a  high  character  and  wide 
circulation,  gave  an  equally  favorable  estimate  of  Father  Heck- 
er's  views  in  a  notice  of   The  Church  and  the  Age. 

The  following  extracts  from  letters  will  close  our  considera- 
tion of  the  Exposition,  which  we  have  thought  worthy  of  so 
careful  and  full  a  study  because  it  is  the  remedial  application  of 
Father  Hecker's  spiritual  doctrines  to  the  evils  of  European 
Catholicity : 

"  It  is  consoling  to  see  men  of  different  opinions  and  of  op- 
posite parties  in  the  Church  regarding  my  pamphlet  as  the  pro- 
gramme of  a  common  ground  on  which  they  can  meet  and 
agree." 

"  I  have  had  several  interviews  with  Cardinal  Deschamps.  He 
invited  me  to  spend  the  evenings  with  him,  as  we  are  old  and 
very  close  friends.  On  all  points,  main  points,  our  views  are 
one.  And  it  is  singular  how  the  same  precise  ideas  and  views 
have  presented  themselves  at  the  same  time  to  the  minds  of  us 
both.  In  matters  which  regard  my  personal  direction,  I  have 
consulted  him  several  times,  and  fully.  He  has  always  taken  a 
special  interest  in  my  welfare  in  every  sense.  His  counsel  has 
given  me  great  relief,  increased  tranquillity,  and  will  be  of  great 
service.  He  remains  here  eight  or  ten  days  longer,  and  I  will 
see  him  as  often  during  that  period  as  I  can." 

A  distinguished  Swiss  orator  and  prelate,  since  made  cardinal, 
told  Father  Hecker  of  a  devout  priest  who  gave  a  large  number 
of  retreats  to  the  clergy:  "'When    I  saw  him    last,'  said  Monsig- 


"  The  Exposition  of  the  Church."  40 1 


nor  to  me,  'he  said  that  since  we  had    met  he  had  given 

retreats  to  seven  hundred  or  eight  hundred  priests,  and  that  he 
had  read  to  them  the  Exposition  of  the  Church  which  I  gave 
him  at  my  last  interview  with  him.' " 

"  It  will  take  time  to  understand  the  ideas  in  the  Exposi- 
tion. It  will  take  still  longer  time  to  see  their  bearing,  appli- 
cation, and  results.  Few  at  first  will  seize  their  import ;  by  de- 
grees they  will  take  in  a  wider  circle.  The  difficulties  of  the 
times,  the  anguish  of  many  souls  in  the  midst  of  the  present 
persecutions,  etc.,  will  draw  attention  to  any  project  or  plan  or 
system  that  offers  a  better  future." 


CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

IN   THE   SHADOW   OF   DEATH. 

"  1  LOOK  back,"  wrote  Father  Hecker  in  the  summer  of  1875, 
J-  "  on  these  three  years  as  one  continuous  and  dreadful  in- 
terior struggle."  This  shows  that  the  shadows  were  too  deep  and 
broad  for  the  intervals  of  peace,  which  we  know  from  his  letters 
he  had  now  and  then  enjoyed,  to  banish  the  impression  of  con- 
stant gloom.  And  Father  Hecker's  readiness  to  return  home  upon 
positive  request  will  be  the  better  appreciated  when  we  remem- 
ber how  very  painful  to  him  was  the  very  thought  of  his  past 
occupations.  Nor  was  his  bodily  health  in  a  hopeful  condition. 
While  at  Ragatz  in  the  month  of  June,  1875,  he  met  a  distin- 
guished physician  from  Paris,  an  excellent  Catholic,  whom  he 
had  been  strongly  advised  to  consult  before.  Glad  of  the  chance, 
he  submitted  to  a  thorough  examination,  and  received  from  him 
a  written  statement  to  the  effect  that  it  would  be  dangerous  to 
take  up  any  steady  occupation,  and  that  he  should  be  entirely 
free  from  care  for  at  least  a  year ;  otherwise  a  final  break-down 
was  to  be  expected.  This  seemed  effectually  to  bar  all  thoughts 
of  return.  And  such  was  his  own  settled  conviction,  as  is 
shown  by  the  following,  written  about  the  end  of  June  : 

"Where  could  I  find  repose?  Not  in  the  community;  not  at 
my  brother's :  nowhere  else  to  go.  Then,  again,  I  would  be 
constantly  required  to  give  opinions  and  counsel  in  the  affairs 
of  the  community,  which  would  require  an  application  beyond 
my  strength.  There  is  no  other  way  than  for  me  to  remain  con- 
tented in  Europe,  with  my  feebleness  and  obscurity,  in  the 
hands  of  God." 

But  on  July  29  he  received  a  letter  which  compelled  him  to 
decide  between  tranquillity  of  spirit  and  bodily  comfort — perhaps 
life  itself — on  the  one  hand,  and  the  call  of  his  brethren  on  the 
other.  He  decided  without  a  moment's  hesitation  and  with  the 
utmost  equanimity.     We  quote  from    a    letter  to  George  Hecker: 

"  Three    days   ago    a    letter    from    Father    Hewit    reached    me 

urging   my  immediate    return    in    such    strong  language    and  with 

such  considerations  that  I  wrote  a  reply  expressing  my  readiness 

402 


/;/  the  Shadow  of  Death.  403 


to  return  at  once.  On  re-reading  the  letter  I  found  its  tone  so 
urgent  that  I  sent  a  telegram  to  the  above  effect.  ...  In 
God's  hands  are  my  being,  my  soul,  and  all  my  faculties,  to  do 
with  them  and  direct  them  as  He  pleases.  To  return  to  the 
United  States  and  there  arrange  things  to  His  pleasure,  or  to 
leave  me  here.  I  am  indifferent,  quiet,  entirely  ready  either  not 
to  act  or  to  act." 

And  so  in  October,  1875,  Father  Hecker  was  again  in  New 
York.  He  begged  the  Fathers  to  allow  him  to  stay  with  his 
brother  for  the  present,  "  for  my  nerves  could  not  stand  the 
noise,  the  routine,  and  the  excitement  of  the  house  in  Fifty- 
ninth  Street."  And  when  he  did  return  to  the  convent  to  live, 
which  was  four  years  afterwards,  he  was  quite  sure  that  his  end 
was  at  hand,  though  it  did  not  come  till  nine  years  later. 

During  all  the  thirteen  years  between  Father  Hecker's  return 
to  America  and  his  death,  his  daily  order  of  life  was  pretty 
much  the  same  as  he  described  it  in  one  of  his  letters  from 
Europe,  already  given  to  the  reader.  He  did  not  resort  any 
longer  to  change  of  place  or  climate  as  a  means  of  recovery;  he 
had  tried  that  long  enough.  His  physician,  the  one  who  served 
the  community,  assisted  him  constantly  with  advice  and  reme- 
dies, and  once  or  twice  he  tried  a  sanitarium  ;  he  was  apt  to  try 
anything  suggested,  being  credulous  about  such  matters.  But  his 
strength  of  body  slowly  faded  away.  He  was  more  disturbed 
than  surprised  at  this,  and  fought  for  life  every  inch  of  the  way. 

"  If  I  were  a  Celt,"  he  once  said  with  a  smile,  "I  should  more 
readily  resign  myself  to  die,  but  I  am  of  a  race  that  clings  fast  to 
the  earth."  His  persistent  struggle  was  sometimes  calm,  but  was 
generally  sharpened  by  a  horrible  dread  of  death,  which  fastened 
on  his  soul  like  a  vampire,  and  gave  a  stern  aspect  to  his  self- 
defence.  His  patience  in  suffering  was  most  admirable,  though 
seldom  clothed  in  the  usual  formalities.  "  Perhaps,  after  all,"  he 
would  sometimes  say,  "  God  will  give  me  back  my  health,  for  I 
have  a  work  to  do." 

Though  anything  but  an  ill-tempered  man,  Father  Hecker 
was  yet  by  nature  ardent  and  irascible  and  quickly  provoked  by 
opposition,  but  God  gave  him  such  a  horror  of  dissension  that 
he  would  not  quarrel,  though  it  was  often  plain  that  his  peace- 
ful words  cost  him  a  hard  struggle.  Occasionally  he  lost  his 
temper  for  a  little  while,  and  this  was  when  compelled  to  attend 


404  The  Life  of  Father  Heeker. 

to  business  under  stress  of  great  bodily  or  mental  pain.  We  do 
not  think  that  he  was  ever  known  to  attempt  to  move  men  by- 
anger,  or  even  sternness.  "  If  you  ever  tell  any  one  about  me," 
he  said,  "  say  that  I  believed  in  praising  men  more  than  in  con- 
demning them,  and  that  I  valued  praise  as  a  higher  form  of  in- 
fluence than  any  kind  of  threatening  or  compulsion."  Nor  did 
he  resort  to  the  formalities  of  obedience  to  secure  his  end. 
"Why  don't  you  put  me  under  obedience  to  do  this?"  asked  a 
father  who  did  not  exactly  approve  of  a  proposal  Father 
Heeker  had  made  to  him.  The  answer  was  given  with  a  good 
deal  of  heat :  "  I  have  never  done  such  a  thing  in  my  life,  and  I 
am  not  going  to  begin  now ! "  Nor  had  he  any  use  for  bitter 
speech  even  in  cold  blood.  "  One  thing,"  he  said  in  a  letter, 
"  I  will  now  correct ;  a  sneer — intentionally  or  consciously — is  a 
thing  that,  so  far  as  my  memory  serves,  I  am  as  innocent  of  as  a 
little  babe."  Yet  he  could  be  sarcastic,  as  the  following  memo- 
randum shows :  "  Cardinal  Cullen  once  said  to  me,  after  I  had 
made  a  journey  through  Ireland,  'Well,  Father  Heeker,  what  do 
you  think  of  Ireland?'  I  answered :  'Your  Eminence,  my  thoughts 
about  Ireland  are  such  that  I  will  get  out  of  the  country  as  soon 
as  I  can  ;  for  if  I  expressed  my  sentiments  I  should  soon  be  put 
into  jail  for  Fenianism ! '  This  was  in  1867  while  Fenianism  was 
rampant.  Of  course  he  did  not  approve  of  it,  but  the  sights  he 
saw  taught  him  its  awful  provocation.  And  once  when  unduly 
pressed  with  the  dictum  of  an  author  whose  range  of  power  was 
not  high  enough  to  overcome  Father  Hecker's  objections,  he 
said :  "  I  am  not  content  to  live  to  be  the  echo  of  dead  men's 
thoughts."  But  it  was  not  by  skill  in  the  thrust  and  parry  of 
argumentative  fence  that  Father  Heeker  won  his  way  in  a  dis- 
cussion, but  by  the  hard  drive  of  a  great  principle.  The  follow- 
ing memorandum  describes  the  effect  of  this  on  an  ordinary 
man  : 

"  It  is  rather  amusing  when  Father  Heeker  asks  me  some  of 
his  stunning  questions  on  the  deepest  topics  of  the  divine 
sciences.  I  look  blank  at  him,  I  ask  him  to  explain,  I  fish  up 
some  stale  commonplace  from  the  memory  of  my  studies — and 
he  then  gives  me  his  own  original,  his  luminous  answer." 

And  both  his  choice  of  subjects  in  conversation  and  his  natu- 
ral manner  were  according  to  his  temperament,  which  was  medi- 
tative. This  gave  his  countenance  when  at  rest  a  peaceful  cast 
until  within    a  few  years    of   the    end,  when    "death's    pale    flag" 


In  the  Shadow  of  Death.  405 


cast  upon  it  a  shade  of  foreboding.  We  have  a  photograph  of 
him  taken  when  he  was  about  forty-five  and  in  average  good 
health,  showing  a  tranquil  face,  full  of  thought  and  with  eyes 
cast  down  ;  to  the  writer's  mind  it  is  the  typical  Isaac  Hecker. 
But  this  expression  changed  in  conversation,  when  not  only  his 
words  but  his  gestures  and  his  glances  challenged  a  friendly  but 
energetic  conflict  of  opinion. 

If  it  be  asked,  how  did  Father  Hecker  recreate  himself  dur- 
ing those  mournful  years,  the  answer  is  that  recreation  in  the 
sense  of  a  pleasurable  relaxation  seemed  contrary  to  his  nature 
whether  in  sickness  or  in  health.  It  was  once  said  to  him, 
"  Easter  week  is  always  a  lazy  time."  "  No,  it  is  not,"  he  an- 
swered. "  I  never  have  known  a  time,  not  a  moment,  in  my 
whole  life,  when  I  felt  lazy  or  was  in  an  idle  mood."  He  found 
himself  obliged,  however,  to  get  out  of  the  house  and  take  exer- 
cise, walking  in  the  park  leaning  on  the  arm  of  one  of  the  com- 
munity, or,  if  he  was  more  than  usually  weak,  being  driven  in 
his  brother's  carriage.  There  were  occasions  when  to  kill  time 
was  for  him  to  kill  care — to  call  his  mind  away  from  thoughts 
of  death  and  of  the  judgment,  the  dread  of  which  fell  upon  him 
like  eternal  doom.  Then  he  would  try  to  get  some  one  to  talk 
to,  or  to  go  with  him  and  look  at  pictures  and  statues;  or  he 
would  work  at  mending  old  clocks,  a  pretty  well  mended  collec- 
tion of  which  he  kept  in  his  room  against  such  occasions.  In 
the  park  he  would  often  go  and  look  at  the  beasts  in  the  men- 
agerie, and  he  spoke  of  them  affectionately.  "  They  bring  to 
my  mind  the  power  and  beauty  of  God,"  he  said.  He  came  to 
meals  with  the  community,  at  least  to  dinner,  until  five  or  six 
years  before  his  death,  when  his  appetite  became  so  unreliable 
that  he  took  what  food  he  could,  and  when  he  could,  in  h  s 
room.  He  also  attended  the  community  recreations  after  meals 
until  a  few  years  before  the  end  ;  but  it  was  often  noticed  that 
the  process  of  humiliation  he  was  undergoing  caused  him  to 
creep  away  into  a  corner,  sit  awhile  with  a  very  dejected  look, 
and  then  wearily  go  upstairs  to  his  room.  When  he  was  urged 
not  to  do  this,  "  I  cannot  help  it  to  save  my  life,"  was  all  the 
answer  he  could  give.      He  finally  gave  up  the  recreations  almost 

entirely. 

But  he  hated  laziness.  "I  am  so  weak,"  he  once  said,  "and 
my  brain  is  so  easily  tired  out  that  I  am  forced  to  read  a  great 
deal    to    recreate    myself.     That's    why    you    see    me    reading    so 


406  The  Life  of  Father  Hccker. 

much."  The  book  in  which  he  was  at  the  moment  seeking  rec- 
reation was  a  ponderous  work  on  metaphysics  by  a  prolix 
Scotchman,  treating  in  many  dreary  chapters  of  such  amusing 
topics  as  the  unity  of  the  act  of  perception  with  the  object  per- 
ceived !  As  may  be  supposed  of  such  a  man,  whose  illness  for- 
bade action  and  whose  interior  trials  made  contemplation  an  agony, 
he  chafed  sometimes  at  his  enforced  inactivity,  though  he  was 
never  heard,  as  far  as  we  can  get  evidence,  openly  to  complain 
of    it. 

Time  and  stagnation  of  bodily  forces  did  not  alter  his  pro- 
gressive ideas. 

"  Is  it  not  wiser,"  he  said,  "  to  give  one's  thought  and  energy 
to  prepare  the  way  for  the  future  success  and  triumph  of  reli- 
gion than  to  labor  to  continue  the  present  [state  of  things],  which 
must  be  and  is  being  supplanted  ?  Such  an  attitude  may  not  be 
understood  and  may  be  misinterpreted,  and  be  one  of  trial  and 
suffering ;  still  it  is  the  only  one  which,  consistently  with  a  sense 
of  duty,  can  be  taken  and  maintained." 

A  bishop  on  his  way  to  Rome  once  called  on  Father  Hecker. 
"  Tell  the  Holy  Father,"  he  said  to  him,  "  that  there  are  three 
things  which  will  greatly  advance  religion :  First,  to  place  the 
whole  Church  in  a  missionary  attitude — make  the  Propaganda 
the  right  arm  of  the  Church.  Second,  choose  the  cardinals  from 
the  Catholics  of  all  nations,  so  that  they  shall  be  a  senate  rep- 
resenting all  Christendom.  Third,  make  full  use  of  modern  ap- 
pliances and  methods  for  transacting  the  business  of  the  Holy 
See."  Sometimes  he  discussed  the  activity  of  modern  commerce 
as  teaching  religious  men  a  lesson.     He  once  said  : 

"  When  Father  Hecker  is  dead  one  thing  may  be  laid  to  his 
credit:  that  he  always  protested  that  it  is  a  shame  and  an  out- 
rage that  men  of  the  world  do  more  for  money  than  religious 
men  will  do  for  the  service  of  God." 

No  glutton  ever  devoured  a  feast  more  eagerly  than  Father 
Hecker  read  a  sermon,  a  lecture,  or  an  editorial  showing  the 
trend  of  non-Catholic  thought.  After  his  death  his  desk  was 
found  littered  with  innumerable  clippings  of  the  sort,  many  of 
them    pencilled    with    underlinings    and    with    notes.     These    fur- 


/;/  the  Shadow  of  Death.  407 

nished  much  of   the  matter  of    his  conversation,  and   doubtless  of 
his  prayers.     Once  he  wrote  to  a  friend  : 

"  Nobody  is  necessary  to  God  and  to  the  accomplishment  of 
his  designs.  Yet  at  times  I  wish  that  I  had  the  virtue  that 
some  creatures  have ;  when  cut  into  pieces  each  piece  becomes 
a  new  complete  individual  of  the  same  species.  I  should  cut  my- 
self into  at  least  a  dozen  pieces  to  meet  the  demands  made 
upon  me.  What  a  splendid  thing  it  is  to  think  of  our  Lord  go- 
ing about  doing  wonders,  eternal  and  infinite  things,  and  all  the 
time  seeming  to  be  unoccupied.  The  truly  simple  soul  reduces 
all  occupations  to  one,  and  in  that  one  accomplishes  all." 

And  his  organizing  faculty  would  busy  itself  in  various 
schemes,  which,  if  they  could  not  cure  his  weak  body,  could  re- 
lax with  a  fancied  activity  his  tired  soul.  Thus  in  a  letter  he 
said  : 

"  Why  should  we  not  form  a  league  for  the  cause  of  our 
Lord,  to  whom  we  owe  all?  Unreserved  devotion  to  His  cause 
with  patience,  perseverance,  humility,  and  sweetness,  are  weapons 
that  no  man  or  woman  or  thing  can  withstand.  Our  Lord  has 
promised  that  if  we  believe  in  Him  we  shall  do  greater  works 
than  He  did.  Let  us  believe  in  Him,  and  clothe  ourselves 
through  faith  in    Him  with    His  virtues,  and  who    shall  resist  us? 

"  The  first  of  all  successes  is  Christ's  triumph  in  our  souls. 
Everything  that  leads  to  this,  humiliations,  afflictions,  calumnies, 
contempt,  mortifications,  all  work  for  us  a  glory  exceeding  the 
imagination  of  man.  To  suffer  for  Christ's  sake  is  the  short-cut 
in  the  way  of  becoming  Christ-like." 

The  following  anecdote  of  his  missionary  days  shows  Father 
Hecker's  contempt  for  lazy  devotion.  Once,  when  upon  a  mis- 
sion, a  young  priest  just  returned  home  from  Rome,  where  he  had 
made  his  studies,  expressed  his  desire  to  get  back  again  to  Italy 
as  soon  as  possible,  saying,  "  I  find  no  time  here  to  pray."  Father 
Hecker  felt  indignant,  for  it  did  not  seem  to  him  that  the  young 
man  was  very  much  occupied.  "  Don't  be  such  a  baby,"  said  he. 
"  Look  around  and  see  how  much  work  there  is  to  be  done 
here.  Is  it  not  better  to  make  some  return  to  God — here  in 
your  own  country — for  what  He  has  done  for  you,  rather  than 
to  be  sucking  your  thumbs  abroad  ?  What  kind  of  piety  do  you 
call  that?" 


408  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

He  took  a  personal  interest  in  all  the  members  of  the  com- 
munity, and  this  was  greatly  heightened  if  any  one  fell  sick.  We 
remember  his  excitement  when  it  was  announced  that  one  of 
the  Fathers,  who  had  been  sent  to  a  hospital  for  a  surgical 
operation,  had  grown  worse  and  was  in  danger  of  death.  He 
began  to  pace  his  room,  to  question  sharply  about  doctors  and 
nurses,  and  immediately  ordered  Masses  to  be  said  and  special 
prayers  by  the  community ;  and  this  father  he  had  seen  very 
little  of  and  hardly  knew  from  the  others.  "  I  cannot  tell,"  he 
wrote  to  a  friend  at  the  time  of  Father  Tillotson's  illness,  "  I 
dare  not  express,  how  much  I  love  him,  what  he  is  to  me." 
Always  tender-hearted,  the  nearer  he  came  to  the  end  and  the 
more  he  suffered  the  more  gentle  were  his  feelings  towards 
all,  the  more  kindly  grew  his  looks,  but  also  the  more  sad 
and  weary.  He  was  always  careful  to  express  thanks  for 
favors,  small  or  great.  The  following  is  from  a  letter  to  a 
friend : 

"  Your  last  note  contained  at  the  end  a  kind  invitation. 
Don't  be  troubled  ;  I'm  not  coming  !  Do  you  know  that  some- 
times I  am  tempted  to  think  that  I  am  necessary?  Sometimes 
the  thought  has  come  to  me  that  I  might  run  away  from  home 
a  week  or  so.  Then  I  have  driven  the  thought  away  as  I 
would  a  temptation.  But  I  wished  to  thank  you  none  the  less 
for  your  invitation,  though  I  should  never  see  you  again.  I 
have  an    uncontrollable   horror   of  ingratitude." 

During  his  long  years  bf  illness  Father  Hecker's  reading  con- 
tinued upon  the  lines  he  had  ever  followed,  the  Scriptures  hold- 
ing, of  course,  the  first  place.  Besides  reading  or  having  read  to 
him  certain  parts  adapted  to  the  spiritual  probation  he  was  un- 
dergoing, such  as  Job,  the  Passion  of  our  Lord,  and  chapters  of 
the  sapiential  books,  he  also  took  the  entire  Scriptures  in  course, 
going  slowly  through  them  from  cover  to  cover  and  insisting  on 
every  word  being  read,  genealogies  and  all.  He  would  some- 
times interrupt  the  reader  to  make  comments  and  ask  questions. 
The  last  words  that  he  listened  to  at  night  were  the  words  of 
Scripture,  read  to  him  after  he  had  got  into  bed.  He  declared 
that  they  soothed  him  and  settled  his  mind  and  calmed  its  dis- 
turbance, and  this  was  easily  seen  by  his  looks  and  manner. 
Some   who    knew  him  well  thought  from  his  comments  that  God 


In  the  Shadow  of  Death.  409 

gave    him    infused    knowledge  of  a  rare  order  about  the  sense  of 
Scripture.     Once  he  said  : 

"  When  you  were  reading  Ezechiel  last  night,  oh,  you  cannot 
understand  what  thoughts  I  had!  During  the  past  six  months  I 
have  learned  how  to  understand  him.  I  say  within  myself:  'O 
Ezechiel !  Ezechiel !  no  one  understands,  no  one  understands 
you  in  this  world,  except  one  here  and  there.'  " 

Next  to  Scripture  came  St.  Thomas  and  St.  John  of  the 
Cross,  the  one  for  dogmatic  and  philosophical,  the  other  for 
devotional  uses.  It  must  have  been  soon  after  returning  to 
America  as  a  Redemptorist  that  he  procured  a  copy  of  Alago- 
na's  Compendium  of  St.  Thomas,  submitted  it  to  Bishop  Neu- 
mann, whose  learning  was  in  high  repute,  and  obtained  his  assur- 
ance of  its  accuracy.  That  little  book  is  a  curiosity  of 
underlining  and  various  other  forms  of  emphasizing.  It  was  with 
him  till  death.  From  it  he  referred  to  the  full  works  of  St. 
Thomas  for  complete  statements,  but  he  loved  to  ponder  the 
brief  summary  of  the  abridgment  and  work  the  principles  out  in 
his  own  way.  St.  John  of  the  Cross  and  Lallemant,  as  already 
stated,  were  his  hand-books  of  mysticism  and  ascetic  principles. 
The  former  he  caused  to  be  read  to  him  in  regular  course 
over  and  over  again,  enjoying  every  syllable  with  fresh  relish. 
In  later  days  the  Life  of  Mary  Ward,  by  Mary  Catherine 
Chambers,*  and  The  Glories  of  Divine  Grace,  by  Scheeben,  afford- 
ed him  special  pleasure.  Books  which  told  of  the  religious  ten- 
dencies of  minds  outside  the  Church  were  sure  to  interest  him. 
He  studied  them  as  Columbus  inspected  the  drifting  weeds  and 
the  wild  birds  encountered  on  his  voyage  of  discovery.  Those 
who  served  him  as  readers  sometimes  found  this  kind  of  litera- 
ture pretty  dry,  just  as  Columbus's  crew  doubtless  found  it  idle 
work  to  fish  up  the  floating  weeds  of  the  sea.  The  following 
sentences  occur  in  a  diary  written  while  in  Europe  in  1875.  It 
is  a  statement  of  his  opinion  of  the  objective  points  at  which 
Catholic  teachers  and  writers  of  our  day  should  aim  : 

"In  dogmatic  theology,  when  treating  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
fall  of  man  keep  in  view  the  value  of  human  nature  and  the 
necessity  of  divine  grace  preceding  every  act  of  Christian  life. 

"  In  moral  theology,  stimulate  the  sense  of  personal  responsi- 
bility. 


4io  The  Life  of  Father  Heckcr. 


"  In  ascetic  theology,  fidelity  to  the  Holy  Spirit. 
"  In    polemic    theology,    develop    the    intrinsic    notes    of    the 
Church." 

As  to  novels,  he  fully  appreciated  their  power  over  minds,  but 
we  believe  that  he  did  not  read  half  a  dozen  in  his  whole  life, 
and  these  he  treated  as  he  did  graver  works:  he  studied  them. 
"To  read  is  one  thing,  to  study  is  another,"  says  Cardinal  Man- 
ning ;  but  all  reading  was  study  to  Father  Hecker.  We  remember 
one  novel  which  he  read,  slowly  and  most  carefully,  underlining 
much  of  it  and  filling  the  margins  of  every  page  with  notes. 
"  Why  don't  you  read  novels,  as  other  people  do  ? "  he  was 
asked.  "  Because  life  is  more  novel  than  any  fiction,  for  fiction  is 
but  an  attempt  to  paint  life,"  he  answered.  No  printed  matter 
of  any  kind,  much  less  a  book,  ever  could  be  a  plaything  to 
Isaac  Hecker.  He  often  made  more  of  the  sentences  on  a  scrap 
of  newspaper,  and  studied  them  far  harder,  than  the  writer  of 
them  himself  had  done.  A  man  whose  play  and  work  are  in 
such  problems  as,  how  God  is  known,  how  the  Trinity  subsists, 
what  beatitude  is,  how  God's  being  is  mirrored  in  man's  activity, 
has  too  real  a  life  within  him  and  about  him  to  tarry  long  in 
fiction  or  in  any  of  the  by-roads  of  literature.  Poetry,  how- 
ever, in  its  higher  forms,  or  with  a  strong  ethical  tendency,  he 
was  very  fond  of.  Perhaps  his  favorite  among  the  poets  was 
Coventry  Patmore. 

After  returning  to  New  York  Father  Hecker,  besides  super- 
vising the  editorial  work  of  The  Catholic  World,  wrote  an  occa- 
sional article  for  its  pages.  The  more  important  of  these,  twelve 
in  number,  with  the  Exposition  as  a  leader,  were  published  in  a 
volume  already  mentioned,  The  Church  and  the  Age.  This  book 
appeared  in  1887,  and  contains  his  views  of  the  religious  problems 
in  Europe  and  America,  and  also  some  controversial  writings 
against  orthodox  Protestantism  and  Unitarianism.  These  are 
well-written,  clean-cut,  and  aggressive  pieces  of  polemical  writ- 
ing, whether  against  the  errors  of  Protestants  or  of  infidels.  The 
Church  and  the  Age  is  the  best  exhibit  of  the  author's  opinions 
and  principles  on  topics  of  religious  interest  and  those  of  race 
and  epoch  having  a  religious  bearing.  He  has  left  a  considerable 
amount  of  unpublished  matter,  notably  some  essays  on  how  God 
is  known,  the  reality  of  ideas,  and  the  Trinity,  together  with 
much  on  spiritual  subjects.     Let  us  hope  that  these  and  more   of 


In  the  SJiadotv  of  DcatJi.  41 1 

his  unpublished  writings  will  some  day  be  given  to  the  public. 
He  always  found  difficulty  in  preparing  matter  for  the  press. 
Using  a  pencil  and  a  rubber  eraser,  he  often  positively  wore  the 
paper  through  with  writing,  correcting,  and  writing  again.  He 
seemed  scrupulous  about  such  matters,  and  in  these  circum- 
stances he  lacked  the  immediate  expression  of  his  thoughts  which 
came  to  him  so  spontaneously  in  his  letters  and  diaries,  as  well 
as  in  his  public  speaking.  But  he  dictated  readily,  and  with  a 
result  of  reaching  quickly  the  form  of  words  he  would  finally  be 
content  with.  By  this  means  he  prepared  his  articles  on  Doctor 
Brownson,  which  appeared  in  The  Catholic  World  between  April 
and  November,   1887. 

His  intercourse  with  the  members  of  the  community  was 
naturally  much  interfered  with  by  his  illness.  But  he  loved  to 
listen  to  them  speaking  of  their  work,  was  greatly  interested  in 
the  building  and  decorating  of  the  new  church,  and  when  the 
missionaries  came  home  was  eager  to  hear  them  tell  of  their  suc- 
cess. He  would  invariably  suggest  that  we  should  study  how  to 
extend  our  preaching  outside  the  regular  missions,  so  as  to  take 
in  non-Catholics.  He  was  also  alive  to  opportunities  for  stimu- 
lating others,  in  and  out  of  the  community,  to  do  literary  work. 
At  Lake  George,  where  he  spent  his  summers  with  the  community, 
he  was  able  to  have  a  familiar  contact  with  us  all,  especially  the 
students,  whom  he  enlisted  in  working  about  the  grounds  or  the 
house,  helping  as  best  he  could.  But  after  his  illness  began  he 
ever  showed  a  certain  constraint  of  manner  when  the  conversa- 
tion took  a  grave  turn,  a  kind  of  shyness,  which  a  judge  of 
character  might  interpret  as  meaning,  "  I  am  afraid  you'll  misun- 
derstand me ;    I  am  afraid  you'll  think  I  am  a  visionary." 


^jm-J- 


CHAPTER   XXXV. 

CONCLUSION. 

FATHER  HECKER'S  prayer  during  all  these  years  was  a 
state  of  what  seemed  almost  uninterrupted  contemplation  of 
varied  intensity.  He  attended  the  evening  meditation  of  the  com- 
munity as  long  as  he  had  strength  to  do  so,  frequently  giving  a 
commentary  on  the  points  read  out  at  the  beginning,  simple, 
direct,  and  fervent.  He  was  exceedingly  fond  of  assisting  at 
High  Mass  on  Sundays  and  feast  days,  and  he  had  a  small 
oratory  built  between  the  house  and  the  new  church,  from  which, 
by  passing  a  few  steps  from  his  room,  he  could  hear  the  music 
and  see  the  function  through  a  window  opening  into  the  sanc- 
tuary. This  often  overpowered  him  with  emotion,  which  was 
sometimes  so  strong  as  to  drive  him  back  to  his  room  and  into 
bed.  Once  a  week  and  on  the  more  solemn  festivals  was  as  often 
as  he  could  say  Mass,  or  even  hear  it,  on  account  of  his  ex- 
treme weakness  in  the  mornings.  For  the  last  three  or  four 
years  of  his  life  to  say  Mass  at  all  became  a  struggle  which  was 
as  curious  as  it  was  distressing  to  witness.  Those  who  had  often 
read  of  such  things  in  the  lives  of  the  servants  of  God  were 
nevertheless  amazed  at  the  sight  of  them  in  Father  Hecker. 
The  following  is  from  a  memorandum  : 

"Father  Hecker:  Do  you  know  what  it  is  to  be  in  sponta- 
neous relations  with  God — where  the  Divine  Object  works  upon  the 
soul  spontaneously?  It  is  that  which  prevents  me  from  saying 
Mass,  because  I  make  a  fool  of  myself.  At  any  point  I  am  apt 
to  be  so  influenced  by  God  as  to  be  utterly  deprived  of  physical 
force,  to  sink  down  helpless.  At  my  brother's  house  they  expect 
it  and  get  me  a  chair.  A  few  moments  on  a  chair,  and  I  am 
ready  to  go  on.  Now,  if  I  yield  to  this  I  know  that  I  shall  be 
thrown  into  a  clean  helpless  state,  and  I  have  a  practical  work 
to  do.  Question :  Does  this  effect  come  at  receiving  Commu- 
nion ?  Anszvcr :  I  don't  know,  as  I  have  never  yet  received 
Communion  out  of  Mass.  But  I  am  afraid  of  it.  Any  such 
thing  is  apt  to  throw  me  off,  and  I  am  afraid.  Question :  But 
suppose  it  to  be  God's  will  that  you  should  say  Mass  notwith- 
standing this  difficulty?    Answer:  Then  let   Him  bring  it  about." 

At    one    time    several    months    passed,    months    of    very    low 

412 


Conclusion.  413 


vitality  in  body  and  awful  darkness  of  soul,  during  which  he 
neither  said  Mass  nor  received  Communion.  The  following 
memorandum  describes  how  this  period,  perhaps  the  most  pain- 
ful of  his  life,  was  ended  : 

"Christmas,  1885. — For  the  first  time  since  early  summer 
Father  Hecker  undertook  to  say  Mass:  I  assisted  him,  and  a 
stormy  time  we  had  of  it.  It  was  at  five  in  the  morning  and  in 
the  oratory.  He  wanted  to  have  the  door  locked,  but  there  was 
no  key.  '  Don't  speak  a  word  to  me,'  he  said  while  he  was 
dressing  in  his  room.  Arrived  in  the  oratory,  he  sank  down 
upon  a  bench  as  if  some  one  had  struck  him  ;  he  threw  his 
birettum  down  on  the  floor,  and  began  to  weep  and  cry  in  a 
very  mournful  way  and  aloud.  But  he  quickly  recovered,  and 
rested  as  if  he  were  preparing  to  be  hanged.  I  supported  him 
over  to  the  altar,  and  as  he  began  the  Judica  he  blubbered  out 
the  words  like  a  school-boy  being  whipped.  Most  of  the  Mass 
he  said  out  loud,  hardly  holding  in  his  sobs  anywhere  except  from 
the  Jianc  igitar  till  near  the  Pater  Noster.  His  calmest  time  was 
during  that  most  solemn  part,  and  at  his  Communion.  Three  or 
four  times  he  was  forced  to  sit  down  on  a  chair  I  had  provided 
for  him  on  the  predella.  At  the  Memento  for  the  living  he  was 
deeply  affected  and  patted  the  floor  with  his  foot,  sobbing  aloud 
and  acting  like  a  child  with  an  unendurable  toothache.  He  was 
afraid  of  the  Pater  Noster  and  asked  me  to  say  it  with  him, 
which  I  did  ;  also  various  words  and  sentences  in  other  parts  of 
the  Mass.  I  have  heard  him  say  that  the  Pater  Noster  is  a 
prayer  which  breaks  him  down.  After  he  was  through  he  in- 
sisted on  trying  to  say  the  Pope's  prayers.  We  said  the  Hail 
Marys  and  the  Hail,  Holy  Queen,  together,  and  I  recited  the 
prayer  for  him.  I  had  to  take  off  his  vestments  the  best  I 
could  while  he  sat,  and  when  I  got  him  down  to  his  room  and 
into  bed,  he  was  in  a  state  of  nearly  complete  unconsciousness. 
After  saying  my  three  Masses,  I  saw  him  again  at  about  8.30, 
found  him  up  and  dressed  and  very  bright,  and  he  has  been 
particularly  so  all  day." 

What  follows  is  from  a  letter  dated  early  in  1886,  and  seems 
to  refer  to  the  occasion  above  described.  He  speaks  of  himself 
in  the  third  person : 

"And    he    [Father    Hecker]    was    never   so    occupied    as   now, 


414  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


although  he  is  doing  nothing  and  has  been  in  that  condition  for 
months.  Though  he  does  hear  Mass,  he  does  not,  because  he 
cannot,  say  it— without  showing  what  a  big  fool  he  is.  However 
he  has  begun  again  to  say  it.  If  it  had  not  been  for  human 
respect  he  would  not  have  said  it  last  Sunday;  he  was  too  fee- 
ble. God  is  killing  him  by  slow  fire,  by  inches.  He  dies 
terribly   hard." 

If  Father  Hecker  had  had  an  unimpaired  physical  system 
when  his  interior  trials  came,  he  might  have  resisted  the  ner- 
vous depression  which  they  caused,  at  least  well  enough  to 
maintain  an  active  part  in  his  undertakings.  Or  if  his  bodily 
weakness,  resulting  from  his  early  austerities,  had  been  accom- 
panied with  interior  equanimity,  he  might  have  held  up.  A 
rickety  ship  can,  with  care  and  skill,  get  into  port  if  the  engine 
is  sound,  and  so  can  a  sound  ship  with  a  broken-down  engine 
sail  home,  however  slowly.  But  with  both  a  rickety  ship  and  a  dis- 
abled engine  the  port  should  be  near  at  hand  or  there  is  danger 
of  shipwreck.  That  Father  Hecker  did  not  die  long  before  he 
did,  was  due,  apart  from  God's  special  designs,  to  the  extraordi- 
nary skill  and  care  of  Doctor  James  Begen,  who  was  also  an 
attached  friend.  Mr.  Anthony  Ellis,  one  of  his  former  penitents, 
served  him  in  his  sick-room  out  of  pure  love  from  1879  until  his 
death,  which  preceded  Father  Hecker's  by  about  a  year.  He 
had  a  kind-hearted  successor  in  Mr.  Patrick  McCann. 

Father  Hecker's  beloved  brother  George  died  on  February 
14,  1888.  He  had  been  ailing  for  some  time  and  Father  Hecker 
went  to  see  him  frequently.  "  George  and  I,"  he  once  said, 
"  were  united  in  a  way  no  words  can  describe.  Our  union  was 
something  extremely  spiritual  and  divine."  The  following  memo- 
randum tells  how  Father   Hecker  received  the  news  : 

"George  Hecker  died  about  nine  o'clock  last  night,  and  when 
I  informed  Father  Hecker  of  it  this  morning  he  was  deeply 
moved.  '  Don't  say  a  word  to  me ! '  he  cried,  '  not  a  word. 
Read  something!  Read  something  quick!'  I  stepped  over  to 
the  table  and  took  the  Scriptures  and  began  to  read  the  thir- 
teenth chapter  of  St.  John,  read  it  through,  and  another  chapter. 
By  that  time  he  calmed  down.  He  only  wept  twice,  except  a 
few  little  sobs,  and  went  out  riding  as  usual  this  afternoon.  He 
is  profoundly  moved.  '  I  knew  it,'  he  said  this  morning ;  '  I  saw 
it,  I  saw  it  last  night — it   seemed    to  me  that    I  saw  it.     I    came 


Conclusion.  415 


near  coming  to  your  room  at  half-past  ten,  but  concluded  not 
to  do  so.'  Another  time  to-day  he  said  :  '  If  God  enables  me  to 
bear  this  I  hope  I  shall  be  able  to  do  my  allotted  work.' ' 

He  bore  it  well,  but  it  added  very  much  to  a  burden  already 
too  heavy.  For  some  weeks  afterwards  he  now  and  then 
moaned  and  wept  for  his  brother,  and  this  happened  occasionally 
till  summer  came.  Those  who  attended  Father  Hecker  could 
not  but  be  convinced,  from  what  they  saw  and  heard,  that  God 
allowed  George  to  visit  his  brother  more  than  once  after  his 
death,  and  these  supernatural  interviews  were  productive  of 
mingled  consolation  of  soul  and  pain  of  body  to  the  survivor. 
George  Hecker  was  worthy  of  his  brother's  love.  He  was  a 
noble  character,  full  of  that  sort  of  religion  nowadays  most 
needed.  His  piety  flourished  in  the  withering  atmosphere  of 
wealth  and  in  the  turmoil  of  commercial  life.  Industry,  thrift, 
enterprise,  quick  perception  of  opportunities,  determination,  a 
keen  sense  of  his  rights  and  a  bold  hand  to  defend  them, 
manly  frankness,  were  conspicuous  traits  in  him  and  made 
him  a  rich  merchant.  But  all  these  qualities  served  him  as 
well  for  high  spiritual  ends.  He  was  essentially  and  domi- 
nantly  a  spiritual  man,  fond  of  prayer,  regular  in  all  reli- 
gious duties.  He  was  as  honest  as  the  day,  and  all  for  con- 
science' sake  and  the  love  of  God.  His  understanding  was  wide 
and  clear,  his  heart  tender,  simple,  and  courageous.  He  loved 
his  wife  and  children,  he  loved  his  brother  Isaac,  with  an  absorb- 
ing devotedness,  and  these  loves  were  blended  and  mingled  into 
one  with  the  love  of  God.  His  charities  are  known  to  the 
reader,  but  they  should  be  understood  as  the  result  not  merely 
of  affection  for  his  brother,  or  even  of  faith  in  his  apostolate, 
but  also  from  his  own  perception  of  the  intrinsic  worth  of  the 
undertakings  themselves.  We  know  not  what  quality  could  be 
added  to  George  Hecker  to  make  him  a  model  Christian  of  our 
day. 

His  death  had  a  serious  effect  on  Father  Hecker's  state  of 
body  and  mind.  But  from  the  previous  autumn  and  during  the 
winter  following  he  had  failed  rapidly.  In  fact,  he  had  request- 
ed and  received  the  last  Sacraments  from  Father  Hewit  on 
September  15,  1887;  but  this  was  on  account  of  an  alarming 
irregularity  of  the  heart's  action,  which  was  but  temporary.  He 
had    no    long    distance   to    drop  at  any  time    to    get    to  the    bot- 


416  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 

torn,  and  it  became  evident  in  the  summer  of  1888  that  the  end 
was  not  far  off.  He  could  not  stand  the  strong  air  of  Lake 
George  that  summer,  and  came  home  after  being  there  but  a 
couple  of  weeks.  He  tried  the  sea-side  with  even  worse  success; 
and  the  short  journeys  he  made  were  extremely  painful.  The 
paroxysms  of  angina  pectoris  became  more  frequent  and  daily  left 
their  victim  less  able  to  rally.  Patience  strained  to  the  utter- 
most by  physical  suffering,  the  mind  distressed,  fits  of  despon- 
dency and  of  indescribable  gloom,  the  weight  of  a  body  of  death 
^-all  this  he  had  borne  for  sixteen  years,  with  only  occasional 
intervals  of  peace.  There  was  little  left  to  suffer  except  death. 
His  bodily  resistance  grew  weaker  towards  the  end  of  his  last 
summer  on  earth,  and  he  lost  flesh  rapidly.  The  fulness  of 
his  face  was  gone  by  autumn,  and  a  wan  look,  as  of  decaying 
force,  was  stamped  upon  it.  He  suffered  in  literally  every  mem- 
ber of  his  body,  by  turns  or  simultaneously.  We  find  the  fol- 
lowing memorandum  : 

"  Question :  What's  the  matter  with  the  back  of  your  head  ? 
[he  was  rubbing  it  with  extract  of  witch  hazel].  Answer:  It 
is  sore,  it  hurts  me.  Q.  Well !  As  soon  as  one  part  is  better 
another  gets  out  of  order  ?  etc.  A.  Do  you  know  it  was  all 
revealed  to  me  and  foretold  [beginning  to  weep].  Q.  When  ? 
In  your  novitiate  ?  A.  Yes.  Q.  But  not  all  the  details  of  your 
sufferings?  A.  Yes,  all  the  details.  But  I  will  not  say  another 
word  about  it.  Q.  But  you  ought  to,  etc.  [He  refused  to  say 
more.]"  . 

Little  by  little  during  the  latter  years  Father  Hecker's  visi- 
tors had  become  very  few.  An  occasional  call  was  received 
from  an  old  friend,  lay  or  cleric,  and  this  was  not  apt  to  be 
repeated,  so  painful  was  the  contrast  between  the  former  Father 
Hecker  and  the  present  one.  Instead  of  the  active  and  power* 
ful  man,  of  contagious  courage  and  hopefulness,  they  saw  a  tall, 
wan  old  man  bending  with  the  weight  of  years  and  of  suffering, 
but  still  majestic  in  his  look  and  bearing,  with  a  white  beard, 
and  soft,  attractive  eyes.  The  quick  movement,  the  joyous  greet- 
ing, even  the  smiling  serenity,  had  passed  away,  and  instead  an 
air  of  sadness  had  come,  or  of  enforced  cheerfulness. 

The  following  memorandum,  taken  over  two  years  before  his 
death,  tells  of  a  relief  which  he  hoped  would  be  permanent  ;  but 
such  was  not  to  be  the  case  : 


Conclusion.  417 


"  Father  Hecker  said  to-day :  '  Only  within  the  last  three 
days  has  God  released  me  from  the  sensation  that  I  might  die 
any  instant.  Oh  !  how  I  have  suffered  from  that  feeling  for  ten 
years.  I  did  not  know  whether  I  should  ever  be  delivered  from 
it.  Now,  little  by  little  God  is  lifting  it  off  from  my  soul.  For 
ten  years  I  have  been  under  this  cloud.  Oh,  how  terrible  a  suf- 
fering it  has  been ! '  This  he  said,  his  hands  covering  his  face  ;  he 
had  interrupted  me  to  say  it  while  I  was  reading  St.  John  of 
tlie  Cross.  '  Oh  ! '  he  added,  '  how  I  could  weep  for  my  sins,' 
and  so  on  for  a  few  more  words." 

The  clouds  soon  settled  down  again.  The  following  was 
noted  a  little  over  a  month  after  the  above : 

"  Father  Hecker  said  to  me  to-day  :  '  There  was  a  time  when 
I  seemed  to  know  God  so  clearly  and  to  be  so  conscious  of 
His  attraction  that  my  whole  thought  and  wish  was  death  ;  to 
break  the  chain  of  life  to  be  united  to  God  in  Paradise.  Now 
it  is  altogether  different ;  nothing  but  darkness  and   depression.' ' 

Here  is  another  memorandum,  taken  some  time  before  the 
above  : 

"  Father  Hecker  said  :  '  God  is  now  visiting  me  with  the  pro- 
foundest  desolation  of  spirit.  I  have  the  most  deadly  terror  of 
death  ;  if  I  yielded  to  it  I  should  tremble  from  head  to  foot. 
Yet  there  is  a  spell  on  me  which  makes  me  wish  that  I  may 
die  without  sensible  faith  and  deprived  of  every  present  spiritual 
comfort.  .  .  .'  He  also  said  many  things  about  his  continued 
and  unbroken  desolation  of  spirit  these  several  years  back. 
4  Yet,'  said  he,  '  I  never  knew  that  God  would  permit  me  to 
come  so  near  to  Him  and  see  so  much  of  Him  as  I  have.' 
Then  he  made  me  read  to  him  the  first  chapter  of  the  Book  of 
Job.  .  .  .  After  he  had  gone  to  bed  I  read  to  him  part  of 
an  article  in  The  Month  on  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  he  discoursed  meantime  to  me  most  profoundly  on  that 
topic.  And  he  added  :  '  One  reason  why  I  have  always  been  so 
much  interested  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Ghost  acting  in  the 
soul  is  a  practical  one,  because  I  myself  have  never  had  any 
other  director,  though  I  have  more  than  once  opened  my  mind 
entirely  to  others  and  profited  by  their  advice,  but  none  was  or 
could  be  really  my  director.     Hence,  too,  I  am  so  much  attracted 


41 8  The  Life  of  Fatlier  Hecker. 

to  saints  who   have    had    to  struggle  on  alone    like    St.  Catherine 
of  Genoa,  who  was  without  a  director  for  twenty-five  years.' ' 

Towards  the  close  of  October,  1888,  two  months  before  death, 
Doctor  Begen  saw  that  the  end  was  approaching.  This  was 
evident  from  a  sudden  and  general  failure  of  strength,  the  appe- 
tite, not  much  at  any  time,  seeming  now  to  vanish  quite  away, 
although  Father  Hecker's  strong  will  forced  down  a  little  nour- 
ishment. This  loss  of  strength  caused  the  heart  to  work  badly 
and  to  give  an  occasional  sudden  alarm.  Internal  congestions 
followed,  relaxing  the  bowels  and  causing  much  bodily  annoy- 
ance. Meantime  he  was  hardly  ever  out  of  his  room  and  many 
days  he  spent  entirely  in  bed.  His  fits  of  depression  of  spirits 
were  more  frequent  than  usual  and  more  saddening.  He  no 
longer  rested  at  all,  what  sleep  he  got  being  produced  by  drugs 
and  serving  but  to  pass  the  time  unconsciously.  From  the  be- 
ginning of  December  he  was  apt  to  fall  into  a  semi-comatose 
state,  though  generally  in  full  use  of  his  faculties.  Some  days 
before  he  died  he  seemed  to  realize  that  the  long  struggle  was 
nearly  over,  and  he  no  longer  talked  to  the  doctor  or  others  of 
the  medicines  or  of  his  bodily  ailments,  nor  did  he  seem  to 
think  of  them  ;  and  his  mind  appeared  to  have  suddenly  grown 
peaceful.  The  Scriptures  as  well  as  other  books  were  read  to 
him,  as  usual,  up  to  the  very  evening  before  he  died.  On  the 
night  of  the  20th  of  December,  two  days  after  his  sixty-ninth 
birthday,  the  last  sacraments  were  administered,  Father  Hecker 
receiving  them  without  visible  emotion  but  in  full  consciousness. 
During  the  following  day  he  was  quiet  and  apparently  free  from 
acute  pain,  the  benumbed  body  refusing  to  suffer  more  ;  but  the 
mind  calm  and  attentive.  When  the  morning  of  the  22d  came 
all  could  see  that  his  time  was  near  at  hand.  In  the  middle 
of  the  forenoon  the  members  of  the  community  were  gathered 
at  the  bedside,  the  prayers  for  the  dying  were  read  and  the 
indulgence  was  given.  As  this  was  over  the  doctor  arrived, 
and  Father  Hecker,  who  had  gradually  lost  advertence  to  all 
around  him,  was  roused  by  him  into  full  consciousness,  and 
gave  the  community  his  blessing,  feebly  raising  his  hand  to 
make  the  sign  of  the  cross  and  uttering  the  words  in  a  light 
whisper.  Then  he  sank  away  into  unconsciousness  and  in  an 
hour    ceased    to    breathe. 

And    so     Father     Hecker    died.      Our    beloved     teacher    and 


Conclusion.  4T9 


father,  so    blameless  and    brave,  so  gentle  and    daring,  so  full    of 
God  and  of  humanity,  entered  into  his  eternal  beatitude. 

Dying  on  Saturday,  and  so  near  Christmas,  the  funeral  was 
delayed  till  Wednesday,  the  feast  of  St.  Stephen,  the  body  being 
embalmed.  Christmas  afternoon  it  was  placed  in  the  church 
and  was  visited  and  venerated  by  great  throngs  of  people.  A 
vast  concourse  attended  the  Requiem  Mass  the  next  morning, 
which  was  sung  by  Archbishop  Corrigan  surrounded  by  many 
priests,  an  eloquent  sermon  being  preached  by  Father  T.  J. 
Campbell,  the  Provincial  of  the  Jesuits.  The  body  was  placed  in 
the  vaults  of  the  old    cathedral. 

The  life  we  have  been  following  is  a  harmonious  whole  from 
beginning  to  end.  The  child  tells  of  the  youth,  the  youth 
promises  a  noble  man,  and  the  promise  is  more  than  fulfilled. 
He  was  guileless;  no  dark  ways  of  forbidden  pleasure  ever 
heard  the  sound  of  his  footstep.  There  was  no  barter  of  con- 
science for  ambition's  prize.  He  was  fearless  ;  from  beginning  to 
end  there  was  no  halt  from  want  of  courage.  Nor  did  he  rush 
forward  before  the  light  came  to  show  the  road,  though  he  often 
chafed  and  panted  to  hear  the  word  of  Divine  command ;  he 
never  moved  at  any  other.  But  when  the  voice  of  God  bade 
him  forward  he  never  flinched  at  any  obstacle.  The  ever-re- 
curring persuasion  that  there  were  so  few  who  saw  God's  will  as 
he  saw  it  cut  him  to  the  heart,  and  the  mystery  of  the  Divine 
times  and  moments  grew  upon  him  with  fatal  force  till  the  end, 
until  he  drooped  and  pined  away  with  grief  that  he  could  but 
taste  the  first-fruits.  Yet  he  was  ever  submissive  to  the  Divine 
Will,  to  live,  to  die,  to  begin,  to  end  the  work,  to  be  alone  or 
to  be  of  many  brethren,  to  lead  or  to  follow.  Though  a  most 
active  spirit,  he  was  yet  contemplative,  and  to  unite  the  mani- 
festation of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  inner  and  outer  life  was  the 
end  he  always  kept  in  view  ;  but  he  was  distinctively  an  interior 
man. 

Few  men  since  the  Apostles  have  felt  a  quicker  pulse  than 
Isaac  Hecker  when  the  name  of  God  was  heard,  or  that  of 
Jesus  Christ  or  the  Holy  Spirit.  Few  men  have  had  a  nobler 
pride  in  the  Church  of  Christ,  or  felt  more  one  with  her  honor. 
Few  men  have  grown  into  closer  kinship  with  all  the  family  of 
God,  from  Mary  the  great  mother  and  the  holy  angels  down  to 
the  simplest  Catholic,  than    Isaac    Hecker.     But  his  peculiar  trait 


420  The  Life  of  Father  Hecker. 


was  fidelity  to  the  inner  voice.  "  There  are  some,"  he  once  said, 
"  for  whom  the  predominant  influence  is  the  external  one,  author- 
ity, example,  etc. ;  others  in  whose  lives  the  interior  action  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  predominates.  In  my  case,  from  my  childhood,  God 
influenced  me  by  an  interior  light  and  by  the  interior  touch  of 
his  Holy  Spirit."  The  desperate  demand  of  Philip,  "  Lord,  show 
us  the  Father  and  it  is  enough,"  was  Father  Hecker's  cry  all 
through  early  life.  After  the  founding  of  his  community,  in  1858, 
his  life  was  like  an  arctic  year.  From  that  date  till  1872  there 
was  no  set  of  sun.  The  unclouded  heavens  bent  over  him  ever 
smiling  with  God's  glorious  light  ;  and  its  golden  tints  lit  up  all 
humanity  with  hope  and  joy.  Then  the  sun  went  down  to  rise 
no  more.  The  heavens  were  dark  and  silent,  or  rent  asunder 
with  wrathful  storms,  only  a  transient  flash  of  the  aurora  reliev- 
ing the  gloom.  When  the  light  dawned  again  it  was  to  beam 
upon  his  soul  in  the  ecstasies  of   Paradise. 

We  know  not  what  to  say  of  his  faults,  nor  can  we  think 
that  he  had  any  that  were  not  to  be  traced  to  his  eager  love  of 
God's  cause,  such  as  his  overpowering  men  with  pleading  for 
God  in  their  souls  ;  or  too  easily  crediting  unworthy  men  who 
prated  to  him  of  liberty  and  the  Holy  Spirit  ;  or  over-fondness 
during  his  illness  for  playing  in  the  lists  of  fancy  at  an  apos- 
tolate  denied  him  in  the  battle  of  active  life ;  he  repined 
at  being  forced  to  plan  great  battles  in  a  sick-room.  He 
could  not  help  betraying  a  heart  heaving  with  a  pent-up  ocean 
of  zeal,  while  he  was  creeping  about  helplessly,  often  too  feeble 
to  speak  above  his  breath.  A  lover  of  liberty,  its  only  boon  to 
him  at  last  was  liberty  to  accept  and  rivet  upon  himself  the 
chain  of  patient    love. 

Some  may  say  "  Hecker  was  before  his  time."  But  no  man 
is  before  his  time  if,  having  a  divine  message,  he  can  get  but 
one  other  to  accept  it,  can  arrest  men's  attention,  can  cause 
them  to  ponder,  to  ask  why  or  why  not,  whether  this  be  the 
day  or  only  its  vigil.  The  sower  is  not  before  his  time  though 
he  dies  before  the  harvest ;  there  is  a  time  to  sow  and  a  time 
to  reap. 

And  now  the  tree  is  dead,  but  its  ripe  fruits  are  in  our 
bosoms  bearing  living  seeds,  which  »will  spring  up  in  their  time 
and  give  fruit  again  each  according   to  its  kind. 

The  life  of  Father  Hecker  is  a  strong  invitation  to  the  men 
of  these  times  to  become    followers  of   God  the    Holy   Ghost,   to 


Conclusion. 


421 


fit  their  souls  by  prayer  and  penance  in  union  with  Christ  and 
his  Church,  for  the  consecration  of  liberty  and  intelligence  to 
the  elevation  of  the  human  race  to  union  with  God.  We  do 
not  bid  him  farewell,  for  this  age,  and  especially  this  nation,  will 
hail  him  and  his  teachings  with  greater  and  greater  acclaim  as 
time  goes  on.  As  God  guides  His  Church  to  seek  her  Aposto 
late  mainly  in  developing  men's  aspirations  for  better  things  into 
fulness  of  Catholic  truth  and  virtue,  Isaac  Hecker  will  be  found 
to  have  taught  the  principles  and  given  the  methods  which  will 
lead  most    surely  to    success. 


'v^S&ZL — «, 


IFHE    END. 


PRINTED  AT  THE  COLUMBUS  PRESS,   120-122  W.   60TH  ST.,   N.Y. 


APPENDIX. 


LETTERS  FROM  CARDINAL  NEWMAN. 

V 
The  Oratory,  Birmingham,  February  28,  1889. 
My   Dear   Father   Hewit:    I   was   very  sorrowful   at  hearing  of  Father 
Hecker's  death.     I  have  ever  felt  that  there  was  this  sort  of  unity  in  our  lives — that 
we  had  both  begun  a  work  of  the  same  kind,  he  in  America  and  I  in  England,  and 
I  know  how  zealous  he  was  in  promoting  it.     It  is  not  many  months  since  I  re- 
ceived a  vigorous  and  striking  proof  of  it  in  the  book  he  sent  me  [  The  Church  and 
the  Age].     Now  I  am  left  with  one  friend  less,  and  it  remains  with  me  to  convey 
through  you  my  best  condolement  to  all  the  members  of  your  society. 
Hoping  that  you  do  not  forget  me  in  your  prayers, 
I  am,  dear  Father  Hewit, 

most  truly  yours, 

John  H.  Card.  Newman. 

II. 
The  Oratory,  Birmingham,  March  15,  1890. 
Dear  Father  Hewit:  In  answer  to  your  letter  I  am  glad  to  be  told  what  is 
so  interesting  to  me,  viz.,  that  the  Life  of  Father  Hecker  is  in  preparation.  I  had 
a  great  affection  and  reverence  towards  him,  and  felt  that  which  so  many  good 
Catholics  must  have  felt  with  me  on  hearing  of  his  illness  and  death.  I  wish,  as 
you  ask  me,  that  I  could  say  something  more  definite  than  this  of  his  life  and 
writings,  but  my  own  correspondence  with  friends,  and  especially  the  infirmities 
of  my  age,  burden  me  and  make  it  impossible  for  me  to  venture  upon  it.  This, 
alas  !  is  all  that  I  have  left  me  now  by  my  years  towards  the  fulfilment  of  welcome 
duties  to  the  grateful  memory  of  an  effective  Catholic  writer  (I  do  not  forget  his 
work  in  England)  and  a  Benefactor,  if  I  may  usj  the  term,  to  the  Catholic  Reli- 
gion, whose  name  will  ever  be  held  in  honor  by  the  Catholic  Church. 

Yours  most  truly, 

J.  H.  N. 


RECOLLECTIONS   OF    FATHER    HECKER    BY    THE    ABBE    XAVIER 

DUFRESNE,  OF  GENEVA. 

I. 

I  first  knew  Father  Hecker  in  1873,  meeting  him  at  a  Catholic  Congress  held 
at  Ferney  and  presided  over  by  Monsignor  Mermillod.  Father  Hecker  visited 
Geneva  several  times  after  that,  living  in  the  closest  intimacy  with  our  family. 

422 


Appendix.  423 

He  spent  several  weeks  on  a  visit  with  my  father,  Dr.  Dufresne,  at  a  chalet  situ- 
ated on  SaPne  mountain  above  Geneva,  being  at  the  time  in  feeble  health  and 
seeking  recovery  by  a  prolonged  sojourn  in  Europe.  For  this  enforced  inactivity 
he  recompensed  himself  by  continual  and  earnest  conversations,  for  the  purpose 
of  gaining  to  his  ideas  all  whom  he  believed  capable  of  understanding  them, 
whether  Protestants  or  Catholics.  There  was  about  him  an  indescribable  charm 
which  mysteriously  drew  one  to  him  and  penetrated  one  with  his  influence.  Al- 
though he  did  not  know  French  thoroughly  and  preferred  to  use  English,  yet  he 
spoke  with  such  power,  elevation,  exuberance,  and  depth  of  thought  that  he 
captivated  his  hearers. 

When  I  made  Father  Hecker's  acquaintance  1  had  just  lost  my  eyesight,  being 
at  the  end  of  my  ecclesiastical  studies,  and  not  yet  ordained.  He  did  my  soul 
much  good  by  teaching  me  a  kind  of  holiness  which  was  joined  to  lively  intelli- 
gence and  the  most  energetic  activity.  Father  Hecker  remains  to  me  not  only  the 
type  of  an  American*  priest,  but  of  the  modern  one,  the  kind  needed  by  the 
Church  for  the  recovery  of  the  ground  lost  as  a  result  of  Protestantism  and  infi- 
delity, as  well  as  to  enable  her  to  start  anew  in  her  divine  mission. 

II. 

The  principal  impression  produced  by  Father  Hecker  on  those  who  came  in 
contact  with  him  was  one  of  sanctity.  In  his  company  one  felt  his  whole  being 
influenced  as  if  by  something  venerable  and  supernatural,  and  a  constant  inclina- 
tion to  correspond  to  the  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  submit  the  human  will  to 
the  divine.  In  conversing  with  him  about  spiritual  things  one  was  transported 
into  a  higher  region,  the  heart  growing  warmer  and  the  conscience  more  sen- 
sitive. Father  Hecker  plainly  inclined  by  habit  to  the  type  of  character  given  us 
by  Jesus  Christ.  He  suffered  much,  both  physically  from  weakness  of  nerves  and 
morally  on  account  of  enforced  inactivity,  yet  he  not  only  never  complained  but 
was  always  cheerful.  This  was  the  greater  merit  in  him  because  he  seemed  by 
nature  impatient  of  opposition  and  contradiction.  He  had  a  sagacious  mind  and 
easily  discovered  the  faults  of  others,  but,  although  he  spoke  of  men  and  affairs 
with  openness  and  candor,  he  yet  ever  sought  for  favorable  interpretations.  Like 
St.  Francis  de  Sales,  he  knew  how  to  judge  of  people  and  yet  remain  full  of  charity 
for  his  neighbor.  Profoundly  individual,  and  profoundly  attached  to  his  ideas, 
like  all  Anglo-Saxons,  and  in  fact  like  all  who  have  acquired  the  Protestant  habit 
of  free  inquiry,  he  nevertheless  had  for  the  Church  a  docility  almost  naive  and  in- 
fantile ;  and  this  was  because  he  recognized  in  her  the  authority  and  the  action  of 
the  Holy  Spirit. 

It  may  be  said  of  him  without  exaggeration  that  he  was  every  moment  ready, 
if  it  became  necessary,  to  bear  witness  to  the  divinity  of  the  Church  by  martyr- 
dom, and  in  fact  he  often  made  that  declaration.  In  him  the  most  heroic  virtue 
was  faith.  He  had  come  into  the  Catholic  Church  in  spite  of  the  most  extreme 
natural  repugnance,  and  he  remained  in  it,  overcoming  the  perpetual  objection  of 
Protestants  that  Catholicity  could  not  be  the  truth  because  Catholic  countries  had 
become  the  least  powerful  and  the  least  prosperous  in  the  civilized  world.  On 
this  point  he  loved  to  expound  the  text  of  Scripture  which  says  that  it  is  better  to 
lose  an  eve  and  an  arm  and  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  than  to  save  both, 


424  Appendix. 


and  fall  into  hell.  His  piety  was  wholly  interior.  It  consisted  in  the  perpetual 
exercise  of  the  presence  of  God.  He  had  a  natural  disinclination  for  devotional 
practices  as  they  are  in  vogue  among  the  southern  races. 

His  tendency  was  to  spiritualize  as  much  as  possible  all  the  devotions  in  use  in 
the  Church.  His  own  principal  one  was  to  the  Holy  Ghost  and  His  divine  Gifts. 
He  never  spoke  of  the  Incarnation  and  the  Eucharist  without  deep  emotion  and  a 
contagious  love.  As  to  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  he  explained  it  in  a  most 
elevated  manner,  ever  showing,  and  with  great  dignity  and  nobility  of  manner, 
how  it  flowed  from  the  principle  of  the  divine  maternity.  The  last  book  he  sent 
me  was  one  on  the  Blessed  Virgin  written  by  an  American  priest.  Since  Father 
Hecker's  death  I  have  never  failed  a  single  day  to  invoke  him  in  my  prayers,  and 
to  his  intercession  I  attribute  many  graces  obtained,  some  of  them  very  important. 

III. 

Father  Hecker  had  a  marvellous  openness  of  heart.  I  heard  him  relate 
several  times  the  story  of  his  life,  his  conversion,  his  joining  the  Redemptorists, 
his  case  before  the  Roman  Congregations,  and  the  founding  of  the  Paulist  com- 
munity. I  can  still  recall  the  banks  of  the  Lake  of  Geneva  at  the  Villa  Bartoloni, 
where  Father  Hecker,  walking  with  a  friend  and  myself,  told  us  of  his  leaving  the 
Redemptorist  order.  It  was  the  way  in  which  he  talked  of  so  delicate  a  matter 
that  enabled  me  to  appreciate  that  the  man  was  a  saint.  He  liked  to  repeat, 
while  on  this  subject,  what  Cardinal  Deschamps  had  said  of  him  :  "  Here  is  a 
man  who  has  been  able  to  leave  our  Congregation  of  the  Most  Holy  Redeemer 
without  committing  even  a  venial  sin." 

In  my  opinion,  Father  Hecker  was,  after  Pere  Lacordaire,  the  most  remarkable 
sacred  orator  of  the  century.  This  does  not  apply  to  his  writings,  for  his  ideas 
lost  much  of  their  force  in  the  process  of  getting  into  print.  Like  all  natural 
orators  his  chief  quality  was  a  power  of  drawing  and  persuading,  which,  to  use  an 
expression  often  applied  to  Pere  Lacordaire,  had  something  magnetic  about  it. 
He  had  a  prodigious  gift  of  showing  his  Protestant  or  infidel  hearers  that  their 
own  hearts  and  their  own  reason  aspired  by  instinct  towards  the  Catholic  truth 
which  he  was  teaching  them.  In  that  way  he  drew  his  hearers  to  discover  the 
truth  in  their  own  minds  instead  of  receiving  it  by  force  of  argument  or  any  ex- 
trinsic authority.  To  acquire  this  power  he  had  made  a  great  study  of  the  Gos- 
pel, and,  sustained  by  Divine  grace,  he  went  about  the  exposition  of  the  truth  as 
Jesus  Christ  did.  One  of  the  most  original  aspects  of  his  mind  was  that  he  joined 
the  practical  sense  of  the  American  to  the  taste  and  aptitude  of  the  European 
for  speculation.  He  had  not  been  able  to  make  a  complete  course  of  studies  be- 
cause he  had  spent  several  years  in  commercial  life,  but  he  had  great  natural 
gifts  for  metaphysics,  theology,  and  above  all  mysticism. 

Unlike  the  English  converts  of  the  Oxford  school,  he  had  reached  Catholicity 
by  way  of  liberal  Protestantism,  which  he  had  renounced  because  it  could  not 
satisfy  the  religious  aspirations  of  his  nature.  It  would  be  interesting  to  study 
his  case  in  connection  with  those  of  Newman  and  Manning,  for  it  shows  that  souls 
are  led  to  Catholicity  by  all  roads,  even  the  most  opposite,  and  that  minds  most 
inclined  to  rationalize  can  be  drawn  to  the  Church  as  easily  as  those  of  a  conserv- 
ative or  traditional  temperament. 


Appendix.  425 

IV. 

But  I  wish  to  dwell  especially  on  what  preoccupied  Father  Hecker's  mind  and 
formed  the  fundamental  theme  of  his  eloquent  words.  We  were  just  on  the  mor- 
row of  the  Vatican  Council,  of  the  defeat  of  France  by  Prussia,  and  in  the  first 
agonies  of  the  Culturkampf  in  Germany  and  Italy.  Now,  if  one  remembers  that 
Father  Hecker  was  of  an  American  family  originally  from  the  town  of  Elberfeld. 
Prussia,  he  can  better  understand  the  gravity  of  the  problem  which  weighed 
upon  his  mind,  as  upon  that  of  so  many  others.  Must  we  admit,  it  was  asked,  that 
the  Council  of  the  Vatican  has  affixed  its  seal  upon  the  decadence  of  Catholicity, 
binding  the  Church  to  the  failing  fortunes  of  the  Latin  races  ?  Must  Protestantism 
finally  triumph  with  the  Saxon  races?  And  here  Father  Hecker's  faith  did  not 
halt  an  instant,  but  grasped  the  difficulty  in  all  its  terrible  magnitude.  His  solu- 
tion may  be  questioned  by  some,  but  I  believe  that  no  one  will  dispute  that  the 
mind  which  conceived  it  was  of  the  first  order. 

Father  Hecker  remarked,  as  did  many  others,  that,  starting  from  the  sixteenth 
century,  the  Church,  although  ever  exerting  a  considerable  influence,  no  longer  ap- 
peared at  the  head  of  the  world's  activity.     This  was  in  contrast  with  what  she 
had  done  in  the  era  of  the  conversion  of  the  Roman  Empire,  during  that  of  the  in- 
vasion of  the  barbarians,  and  amid  the  immense  religious  movement  which  charac- 
terized the  apogee  of  the  Middle  Ages.     Father  Hecker  discovered  the  cause  of 
this  lessening  influence  in  the  fact  that  since  the  sixteenth  century  the  Church  had 
been  compelled  to  stand  upon  the  defensive.     This  had  greatly  paralyzed  her  pow- 
er of  initiation  and  her  liberty.     As  a  consequence  of  the  Protestant  heresy,  which 
threatened  the  utter  destruction  of  the  principle  of  authority,  the  Church  had  been 
forced  to  concentrate  on  that  side  of  her  fortress  all  her  means  of  defence.     In 
order  to  protect  herself  from  the  excesses  of  the  principle  of  individuality  and  free 
inquiry,  she  had  been  obliged  to  resort  to  a  multitude  of  restrictive  measures, 
which  were  conceived  in  a  very  different  spirit  from  that  which  animated  her  in 
previous  centuries.     In  the  sixteenth  century  the  Church  placed  before  everything 
else  the  idea  of  authority.     She  sacrificed  the  development  of  personality  to  foster- 
ing the  association  of  men  whose  wills  were  absolutely  merged  by  discipline  in  one 
powerful  body.     It  can  be  seen  at  a  glance  how  intimately  and  profoundly  the 
spirit  of  the  dominant  religious  orders  of  the  later  era  differs  from  that  of  the  great 
orders  of  the  Middle  Ages,  in   respect  to  the  expansion  of  nature  and  the  develop- 
ment of  individuality.     The  needs  of  the  sixteenth  century  were  altogether  differ- 
ent from  those  of  the  ages  preceding  it,  and  to  meet  those  needs  God  inspired  St. 
Ignatius  with  the  idea  of  a  different  type  of  Christian  character.     The  result  was 
the  triumphant  repulse  of  Protestantism  from  all  the  southern  nations.     But  the 
victory  was  gained  at  the  price  of  real  sacrifices ;  the  Catholics  of  the  recent  cen- 
turies have  not  displayed  the  puissant  individuality  of  those  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
the  types  of  which  are  St.  Bernard,  St.  Gregory  VII.,  Innocent  III.,  St.  Thomas 
Aquinas.     The  Divine  Spirit  often  exacts  the  sacrifice  of  certain  human  qualities 
for  the  preservation  of  the  faith  ;  and  it  is  in  this  sense  that  we  should  interpret 
the  mysterious  words  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  it  is  better  to  lose  an  eye  and  an  arm 
and  not  fall  into  hell,  than  to  save  an  eye  and  an  arm  and  be  lost  eternally. 

The  Council  of  the  Vatican,  Father  Hecker  maintained,  by  giving  to  the  princi- 
ple of  authority  its  dogmatic  completion,  has  placed  it  above  all  attacks,  and  con- 


426  Appendix. 


sequently  has  brought  to  a  close  the  historical  period  in  which  it  was  necessary  to 
devote  all  efforts  to  its  defence.  A  new  period  now  opens  to  the  Church.  She 
has  been  engaged  during  three  centuries  in  perfecting  her  external  organism,  and 
securing  to  authority  the  place  it  should  have  in  working  out  her  divine  life  ;  she 
will  now  undertake  quite  another  part  of  her  providential  mission.  It  is  now  to  be 
the  individuality,  the  personality  of  souls,  their  free  and  vigorous  initiative  under  the 
direct  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  dwelling  within  them,  which  shall  become  the 
distinctive  Catholic  form  of  acting  in  these  times.  And  this  will  all  be  done  under 
the  control  of  her  divine  supreme  authority  in  the  external  order  preventing  error, 
eccentricity,  and  rashness. 

The  Latin  races  were  fitted  by  nature  to  be  the  principal  instruments  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  during  the  period  just  passed.  In  the  new  one  the  Anglo-Saxon  and 
Teutonic  races,  of  a  nature  strongly  individual  and  independent,  will  take  their 
turn  as  instruments  of  Divine  Providence.  This  is  not  saying  that  the  development 
of  the  Church  is  the  result  of  the  natural  aptitudes  of  races,  but  that  God,  who 
has  created  these  aptitudes,  takes  them  one  after  the  other,  and  at  the  hours  He 
chooses,  and  causes  them  to  serve  as  instruments  for  carrying  out  His  designs. 
It  was  thus,  from  the  fourth  to  the  seventh  century,  that  He  made  use  of  the  meta- 
physical subtilty  implanted  by  Him  in  the  Greek  genius,  issuing  in  all  those  great 
definitions  which  have  fixed  not  only  the  substance  but  the  verbal  form  of  Catho- 
lic dogma.     Hence  the  first  general  councils  were  all  held  in  the  East. 

Father  Hecker  cherished  hopes  for  the  conversion  of  the  Teutonic  and  Anglo- 
Saxon  races.  Doubtless  God  could  convert  them  suddenly,  but  considering  the 
way  heretofore  followed  that  conversion  will  be  brought  about  insensibly  and  by 
the  two  following  instrumentalities  :  On  the  one  hand,  the  new  development  of  indi- 
viduality in  souls  within  the  Church  will  create  a  sympathetic  attraction  towards 
her  on  the  part  of  Protestants,  who  will  discover  affinities  with  her  of  which  they 
were  wholly  unaware.  On  the  other  hand,  the  more  the  Protestant  races  expand, 
the  more  they  will  find  the  dwarfed  Christianity  which  they  profess  falling  short  of 
their  aspirations,  and  by  that  means  they  will  be  inclined  towards  Catholicity.  It 
is  not  a  little  remarkable  that  Father  Hecker  expressed  himself  thus  during  the 
last  years  of  the  pontificate  of  Pius  IX.,  at  a  moment  when  such  ideas  seemed  to 
be  least  in  favor  in  high  Catholic  circles.  But  soon  afterwards  the  pontificate  of 
Leo  XIII.  began,  and  with  it  a  movement  in  the  spirit  indicated  by  the  American 
priest,  and  in  a  manner  so  strikingly  in  accord  with  his  views  that  Father  Hecker 
seemed  to  have    been  enlightened  from  above  in  his  presages  of  the  future. 

Father  Hecker  developed  a  grand  theological  synthesis  of  what  he  called  the, 
exterior  and  interior  mission  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  Church.  He  has  explained 
it  in  a  pamphlet ;  but  how  much  more  impressive  it  was  when  he  expounded  it  in 
person !  We  had  the  privilege  of  hearing  him  do  so  in  a  long  conversation  with 
the  most  celebrated  Protestant  minister  of  French-speaking  countries,  the  illus- 
trious philosopher  and  orator,  Ernest  Naville.  Father  Hecker  said  that  the  an- 
tipathy of  Protestants  for  the  Church  arose  from  the  fact  that  they  imagined  that 
Catholicity  reduced  all  religion  to  obedience  to  external  authority.  Protestants, 
on  the  other  hand,  pretend  to  place  all  religion  in  the  interior  life,  directly  gene- 
rated in  souls  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  it  is  for  this  reason  that  Catholicity  impresses 
them  .is  .1  tyrannical  usurpation  and  a  stupid  formalism.  In  this  they  are  deceived, 
as   a   close   acquaintance   with  Catholics  and  with  such   writings   as   those  of  St, 


Appendix.  427 


Francis  de  Sales  and  St.  Teresa  soon  proves  to  them.  So,  also,  when  they  fancy 
that  the  authority  of  the  Church  is  not  necessary  to  the  preservation  of  the  action 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  soul.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  innumerable  divisions  of 
Protestants  among-  themselves  plainly  show  that  the  interior  action  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  does  not  extend  to  making  each  individual  infallible.  To  safeguard  souls 
against  deception,  scepticism  or  illuminism,  there  is  need  of  another  action  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  which  shall  be  conservative  of  the  interior  life.  That  other  action  is 
exterior,  and  is  exercised  by  means  of  the  authority  of  the  Church.  The  Holy  Spirit 
cannot  be  brought  into  contradiction  with  Himself.  By  His  action  in  the  exterior 
authority  of  the  Church  He  can  never  interfere  in  the  least  degree  with  the  fulness 
or  the  spontaneity  of  His  own  interior  action  in  souls. 

The  exterior  action  is  one  of  control  and  of  verification,  to  hinder  souls  from 
being  lost  in  the  depths  of  illusion  and  in  the  deceits  of  pride.  But  besides  this, 
humility,  obedience,  self-abnegation,  virtues  dear  by  excellence  to  the  heart  of 
Jesus  Christ,  are  impossible  without  due  submission  to  the  external  authority. 
When  one  believes  only  in  himself,  he  obeys  only  himself,  and  hence  has  never 
practised  complete  renunciation  nor  complete  humility. 

Father  Hecker  also  maintained  that  the  direction  of  souls  in  confession  should 
be  made  to  strengthen  and  develop  individual  life.  We  do  not  need  blood-letting, 
he  said,  as  if  we  suffered  from  plethora,  but  rather  we  need  a  course  of  tonics,  sea- 
baths,  and  the  invigorating  air  of  the  mountains.  We  should  not  hold  our  peni- 
tents in  leading-strings,  but  should  teach  them  to  live  a  self-reliant  life  under  the 
direction  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Souls  tempered  by  that  process  would  render  the 
Church  a  thousand  times  more  service  than  they  do  now. 

No  doubt  such  souls  may  sometimes  run  the  risk  of  pride  and  of  temptation  to 
revolt.  But  in  such  cases  the  Church  is  so  provided  with  power  by  the  dogma  of 
infallibilitv,  as  proclaimed  by  the  Vatican  Council,  as  to  be  able  to  counteract  this 
danger  without  serious  loss,  as  was  proved  in  the  case  of  Dollinger  and  the  Old 
Catholics. 

The  Holv  Spirit,  preparing  for  a  great  development  of  individual  life,  has  made 
provision  beforehand  that  the  Church  should  be  armed  with  power  sufficient  to  re- 
press all  waywardness,  and  this  was  done  by  the  Vatican  Council.  Some  had 
feared  that  the  definition  of  infallibility  would  introduce  an  extravagant  use  of  au- 
thority, and  lead  to  a  diminution  of  reasonable  liberty  and  individuality  in  the 
Church  even  greater  than  before.     But  the  very  contrary  has  been  the  result. 

With  reference  to  the  interior  life,  I  can  affirm  that  Father  Hecker's  was  full  and 
rich.  Having  spent  the  greater  part  of  his  life  in  a  devouring  activity,  at  its  close 
he  lived  as  a  true  contemplative.  He  was  a  genuine  mystic.  We  heard  him  dis- 
course with  marvellous  beauty  on  the  Trinity,  the  Incarnation,  the  Eucharist,  ex- 
pounding these  great  truths  in  a  way  not  only  to  enrapture  one  with  their  splen- 
dor, but  utterly  to  refute  deism,  pantheism,  and  materialism.  The  latter  error,  he 
said,  owed  its  introduction  partly  to  the  fact  that  Protestantism  had  refused  to  the 
senses  their  legitimate  place  in  divine  worship,  this  excessive  spiritualizing  having 
brought  about  a  reaction. 

V. 

Father  Hecker  often  spoke  of  the  futur.:  reserved  for  Catholicity  in  the  United 
States,  saying  that  it  was  there  that  tie  union  of  'he  Church  with  democracy  would 


428 


Appendix. 


first  take  place.  In  that  nation  the  prejudice  against  the  Church  is  not  so  strong  as 
in  Europe,  and  her  position  is  free  from  the  embarrassments  of  traditional  difficul- 
ties. Catholicity  is  there  valued  for  its  immediate  effect  upon  human  nature,  and 
the  rancor  born  of  historical  recollections  is  not  in  such  full  control  of  men's 
minds;  hence  conversions  are  more  easily  made.  Furthermore,  Father  Hecker 
believed  that  it  would  finally  be  discovered  that  the  Protestant  spirit  is  contrary  to 
the  political  spirit  of  the  American  Republic.  America  has  based  her  Constitution 
on  the  fact  that  man  is  born  free,  reasonable,  and  capable  of  self-government. 
The  Protestant  Reformers,  on  the  contrary,  never  ceased  to  teach  that  original  sin 
deprived  man  of  his  free  will  and  made  him  incapable  of  performing  virtuous 
acts ;  and  if  Protestants  seek  to  escape  from  this  whirlpool  of  fatalism,  they  fall 
into  infidelity.  The  day  will  come  when  Americans  will  admit  that  if  they  are  to 
be  at  once  religious  and  reasonable,  they  must  become  Catholics.  Therefore, 
whether  it  be  acknowledged  or  not,  every  development  of  political  liberty  in  the 
United  States  contributes  to  the  advance  of  Catholicity.  The  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  has  formulated  the  political  principles  most  conformable  to  the 
Canons  of  the  Council  of  Trent. 


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